


Testing Limits

by Sandycastle



Series: Child of the Heart [3]
Category: Bonanza/Ponderosa
Genre: Gen, Parental Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 18:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 63,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13129629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandycastle/pseuds/Sandycastle
Summary: Sparky tests his limits with his father and brothers after becoming a hero at school rescuing his brother and his friends from a collapsed snow cave.





	Testing Limits

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story is written for all to enjoy and not for profit. I do own certain characters in this story. Sparky/Nicholas is my own creation and I protect him. I thank David Dogtrot for the creation of his Cartwright characters as well as others from Bonanza and the Ponderosa series. Although this story is mostly A Bonanza story you will notice that I have also use some characters from Ponderosa. I have also created some other characters and places to suit the story. This story contains spanking. If you don’t approve of this, this story may not be for you. 
> 
> Rating PG13

Testing Limits

 

Chapter 1 

 

It was only a week until Christmas. Nicholas “Sparky” Cartwright had finally allowed his father to put away his gold medal with its dark blue ribbon for outstanding citizenship. Most of the attention for him rescuing his brother Joe and the other school children from a collapsed snow cave had died down. The small boy, dressed in blue jeans and a blue checked shirt was sitting at his desk in the schoolroom working on the arithmetic problems Miss Jones had written on his slate. The blonde haired, grey eyed child bent over his work. He finished his assignment quickly and sat back glancing around the schoolroom, with a bored look on his face. 

Miss Jones, dressed in a drab brown dress, noticed the little boy looking around. She walked quickly with mincing steps over to his desk. Locking her brown eyes with the boy’s grey ones she asked, “Nicky, have you finished your arithmetic problems?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Sparky offered his slate to her. The teacher took it and perused it. She noticed he had gotten each problem correct. She erased them and filled his slate with more arithmetic problems, this time making them more complicated. She handed the slate back to the child. “Nicky, you may work on these arithmetic problems now.” The woman informed the little boy with a stern look. 

Sparky frowned at his slate. “Miss Jones, that’s not fair! I finished my assignment, why do I have to do extra?!” The youngster whined. 

The teacher eyed the little boy sternly and said, “Nicky, it seems the problems I gave you earlier weren’t much of a challenge for you since you completed them so quickly. These will probably be a bit more difficult and keep you busy for the rest of your class time.”

“I won’t do them!” Sparky stated defiantly, with a stubborn look on his little face. 

Patrick Kelly, dressed in blue jeans, a green checked shirt, with his red hair and green eyes, looked up from his work at his desk mate surprised by his attitude toward the teacher. The little boy hadn’t been this defiant since the beginning of school and the child was curious as to what Miss Jones would do. 

The school teacher, noticing her student’s attitude, saw the warning signs that the child was going to have a major tantrum about this. “If you don’t do them, I’ll just write a note to your father telling him you refused to complete your school assignments.” Miss Jones informed the little boy sternly. 

Sparky pouted and sulked, swinging his feet and a very unhappy look on his face. He didn’t like this turn of events at all. 

Joe Cartwright, dressed also in jeans, with a gray shirt, looked in the direction of his little brother. Sparky was being stubborn and if Miss Jones wasn’t careful the little boy was going to have a tantrum. 

The teacher eyed Nicholas Cartwright. “Young man, you may get up and go stand in the corner.” She pointed to the spot she wanted him to go to. 

Sparky looked up at Miss Jones surprised. “I don’t want to stand in the corner!” The Littlest Cartwright replied in a way that left no doubt about his feelings regarding this order. 

Patrick Kelly looked at his desk mate as if he had lost his mind. Their teacher was going to swat him good if he kept this up. Then he remembered that Miss Jones didn’t do that to Nicky Cartwright and sat back to watch the performance. 

“I don’t care if you want to or not Nicholas Cartwright! You have a choice young man, you may complete your arithmetic assignment, or go stand in the corner. Which is it going to be?” Miss Jones challenged the child, crossing her arms in front of her and tapping her foot. 

“I won’t do either one!” Sparky exclaimed, crossing his little arms in front of him in imitation of his teacher’s stance, with a smug defiant look on his face. 

The little boy who was sitting next to him was shocked by the child’s response. He again looked at the other boy as though he had sprouted horns out the top of his head. 

Miss Jones went to take the little mite by the wrist and drag him over to the corner. He was just a little bit quicker than she was and ducking under his desk, the child scrambled out of her reach heading for the door. 

Stunned, Patrick Kelly couldn’t believe the behavior of his desk mate. He knew if it were him who was pulling this his bottom would already be feeling the sting of Miss Jones’s paddle. 

Joe Cartwright, afraid of another scene like the one earlier in the school year when his little brother had taken off and ended up joining their father on the trail to San Francisco, quickly jumped up from his desk and cut the youngster’s path off. He picked him up, brought him over to the corner and stood him there.   
He leaned down and whispered into his ear, “Nicholas, if you don’t stand here and behave yourself I’ll have to swat you right here in front of everyone and I don’t think you want to be embarrassed. As it is, when Pa gets Miss Jones note when you get home this afternoon your bottom is not going to feel very good.” 

The little boy flushed a bit and resisted placing his hands on his backside to protect it from an assault by his older brother. He just nodded and stood in the corner the way he should.

“Thank you, Joseph.” Miss Jones said with great relief. 

“You’re welcome Miss Jones.” The older Cartwright boy said and took his seat, resuming his schoolwork. 

Abigail sat at her desk and putting her quill into the ink bottle, wrote a note to Ben about Sparky’s behavior. She would give it to the boy to take home when he left school for the day. 

When Hop Sing came to get the little one at lunchtime, Joe saddled up Blaze and turned to Sparky. “Make sure you show that note to Pa when he gets home little brother.”

“Yes, I won’t forget.” The Littlest Cartwright replied, ducking his blonde head feeling ashamed. 

The child rode home dejectedly. His grey eyes were downcast and his little face had a sad look. He sighed from time to time, realizing the closer they got to home how much trouble he could be in. He knew he shouldn’t have caused a scene, but he just couldn’t help it. He wasn’t real fond of school and would have rather been allowed to read for a while instead of extra arithmetic. He had liked school for a little while after he had been awarded his metal and all, but once the attention had worn off and things settled back into a normal routine, his dislike for school had reasserted itself. 

Hop Sing put up the pony for the little boy, sending him up to the wash house to get cleaned up and ready for lunch. When Nicky entered the house, the little Chinese man bustled into the kitchen and returned shortly, setting out a bowl of chicken rice soup and a half of roast chicken sandwich for the little boy. Sparky ate and afterward played in the great room in the corner with his painted tin soldiers.

Ben, Adam and Hoss rode into the yard about midafternoon from bringing out feed to the cattle. They were cold and tired. The Elder Cartwright seeing is child playing in the great room smiled at him with a loving glow to his dark brown eyes. “Hi Sparky, how was school today?” he asked, walking over and tousling his small son’s blonde hair. 

The youngster looked at his Papa and knew he couldn’t put off giving him the note. Without a word, he dug into the front pocket of his jeans, extracting a piece of paper. He handed the folded note to his father.

The little one’s Papa quirked an eyebrow at the child. “What’s this Sweet Pea?”

“A note from Miss Jones.” He told him in a small voice, hanging his blonde head and casting his large gray eyes down to the tips of his shoes. 

“I see, well, why don’t you come over here and sit on the chair by my desk and let’s talk about this.” The Cartwright patriarch took his son’s small hand and led him over to the chair. 

The youngster sighed, allowing himself to be led over to the spot his father wanted them to be for them to have their talk. “Yes Papa.” 

Once Sparky was seated on the chair Ben holding the note looked into those big grey eyes and asked the age-old question. “Nicky, what will I find in this note?”

“Umm… that I had a temper tantrum about having to do extra arithmetic problems. Miss Jones told me I had a choice to stand in the corner or do my arithmetic. I-I … “Sparky looked down finding the tips of his shoes very interesting all of a sudden.

“You what.” Ben prompted. “And look at me Nicky.”

The large grey eyes came up then to meet the chocolate ones. “I told her I wasn’t going to do either one.” He took a deep breath, knowing what he was going to tell his Papa next was going to seal his fate. “When I told her that she tried to grab me to take me to the corner, but I ducked under my desk and was going to run out of the schoolhouse when Little Joe cut me off, picked me up and put me in the corner. “Papa, he threatened to swat me right there in front of the whole school! He can’t do that can he?” Sparky looked up at his father worriedly, a flush creeping over his little face. 

Ben thought about this for a moment, then looking his little son in the eye replied, “I may not have liked that he did that if he had followed through, but I also wouldn’t have liked the fact that you put him in a position where he had to swat you either.” 

The little boy gulped. “Papa, do you mean that he would have swatted me?”

“I’m not sure, Sparky, but usually your brother doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean. I’m sure he wouldn’t have liked to have done it, but he also knows Miss Jones isn’t allowed to. I think young man I may be giving your teacher permission to apply a few swats to your behind if needed at school from now on. I don’t like your being so defiant to her and I don’t like your brother feeling like he has to discipline you in school because you’re acting so naughty.” Ben leaned back in his chair and eyed his recalcitrant son sternly. 

Sparky’s eyes widened and rounded at the words that he had just heard his father say. “Papa, you won’t let Miss Jones swat me in front of the whole school, will you?”

“Nicky, does she swat other children in front of the whole school?” Ben asked, getting eye contact with the boy. 

“Umm… yes Papa.” The youngster answered flushing pink. 

“Then why should you be any different?” The boy’s father inquired. 

“Because I’m Nicholas Cartwright!” Sparky pronounced proudly. 

Ben almost laughed at his son’s antics, but schooled his face, continuing to wear his stern Pa face. “And just what does that mean young man?”

“Papa, I’m a hero, you can’t spank heroes!” The little boy announced with quite a bit of pride. 

The man hid his grin behind his hand as he rubbed it over his face. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard come out of his little son’s mouth. “Oh really. Young man, I hate to disappoint you, but little boys, even if they have been heroes can get spanked if they misbehave.” Ben eyed his child.

“But Papa! That’s not fair! Being a hero should count for something!” Sparky cried indignantly.

“It does baby, it counts for your being brave and caring about your family and classmates. It doesn’t however excuse poor judgment, disrespect, deceit, disobedience, poor choices, pouting, sulking or tantrums. You can’t use your medal and good deeds as a shield to allow you to do all the other things that are unacceptable.” The elder Cartwright informed his child gently.

The youngster looked uncomfortable now. 

Ben hoped he was getting through to his little boy. 

“Oh.” Sparky looked down at the tips of his shoes again. 

“Nicky, look at me.” The child’s father commanded, but gently.  
When the large grey eyes connected with his he went on. Nicholas, it is a wonderful thing to do good deeds, but you also have to continue with all the other behaviors as well. You still have to be obedient, respectful, honest and all the other things that help make you a good person. One courageous act does not excuse you from continuing to behave in the way that is expected. If you don’t continue to practice all the duties of a well-behaved child, people will no longer see the one heroic deed you’ve done, but will only begin to see all the things you aren’t doing. No one likes a hero that isn’t obedient, respectful, honest and doing all the things that make him an all-around good person. Do you understand?” 

Sparky flushed and was embarrassed. “Yes Papa. I have to continue to follow all the rules.”

“Yes, baby.” Ben smiled at his son then. 

“Papa?” The child looked earnestly up at his father.

“Yes Nicky?” The youngster’s father responded encouragingly.

“I’ll try to do better and follow all the rules.” The little boy announced seriously. 

“Very good.” Ben hugged the little mite. “Now Sparky, I think we need to finish this discussion in your room with a very necessary talk.”

The little boy gulped.” Yes Papa.” 

The two of them walked hand in hand up to Sparky’s room.  
Once there the little boy’s father closed the door. He set the chair to his child’s desk in the middle of the floor across from his son’s bed. 

Nicky sat on the bed across from him.

“Do you know why we’re having this necessary talk son?” The Elder Cartwright asked, gaining eye contact with those large gray eyes. 

“Yes Papa, because I had a tantrum at school and was disrespectful and disobedient to Miss Jones and I put Little Joe in a bad place of almost having to swat me.” Sparky recited, tears escaping now. 

“Yes, good boy. Ben reached out and gently drew the child to his side. He put him over his knee and delivered several very hard swats to his behind.   
When he was through, he held the little boy on his lap. Giving the child, a hug Ben asked, “Nicky, are we going to have a repeat of this behavior of you running away from your teacher when she believes you need to be disciplined?”

The littlest Cartwright looked up at his father, “No Papa, I’ll try not to do that again.”

“Well try real hard young man or we will be finding ourselves doing this again. Do you understand?” Ben gave the little boy a stern look.

The youngster made eye contact with his father, tears still coursing down his little face, “Yes Papa.”

“Very good.” The child’s father held him on his lap. 

The little mite then buried his face in Ben’s chest and the man held him snugly until he was all cried out. Once they were finished the elder Cartwright dried his son’s face, helped him to blow his nose and handed him the note he had signed before coming up to the boy’s room and reminded the youngster, “Don’t lose this and be sure to give it to Miss Jones in the morning.”

“Yes Papa.” Sparky said, taking the note and jamming it back into the front pocket of his jeans. 

The boy’s father got his son’s attention and said, “I also added a note of my own to the note your teacher sent home Nicky. I’ve informed her she will be allowed to swat you if you need it in school. She will swat you only with her hand and not more than three swats at any one time. If you are in need of a spanking, more than three swats then she is to send a note home and I will take care of the rest. Do you understand?”

“Yes Papa.” Sparky said red-faced. 

“okay.” Ben then hugged the littlest Cartwright, cuddling him and showing the child just how much he was loved and cherished. 

 

Chapter 2

 

When Little Joe came home Sparky waited for him to come into the house. When he entered the little mite rushed up to him and flung himself at his brother. “I’m sorry about you having to talk to me at school this morning and threatening to swat me.”

The older boy picked up the little one and hugged him. “I forgive you, but Sparky, if you hadn’t stood in the corner like I told you I want you to know I would have swatted you good.”

The youngster ducked his head, embarrassed. “I promise Little Joe, I won’t make you do that again. Papa spanked me and told me that he’s giving Miss Jones permission to swat me with her hand up to three swats in school if I deserve it.”

“Good. You deserved one today you know.” The older boy cuddled his little brother, loving the feel of him in his arms, but still gave him a stern look. 

“Yes, Little Joe.” Sparky hugged his big brother. 

Joe hugged him back. Then he put him down. He tousled his blonde hair and grinned at him. “Little brother, I have to admit, you are adorable.”

“Little Joe!” Sparky flushed embarrassed. 

“You are so cute, it’s hard to resist you Sweet Pea.” The older boy then patted the child on the head and walked upstairs to his room to do his homework. 

Sparky smiled happily at his older brother, knowing all had been forgiven. 

<<<<>>>>

That night after supper Sparky was playing with his tin soldiers and painted wooden blocks in the great room. He was playing very noisily, being careless with his toys. Adam was trying to read. Ben was also trying to concentrate on the newspaper, being somewhat difficult with his youngest son’s rough play. Little Joe and Hoss were playing a game of checkers. The little mite flipped a block and it landed right in the middle of the playing board scattering the pieces all over the room.

“Sparky!” Hoss cried Jumping up from his chair. 

Ben looked up just then to see his two middle sons looking very crossly at the littlest Cartwright. “Son, I think it’s time for you to pick up your toys and go to bed little boy.”

“No! I was only playing Papa! It was an accident!” The child cried, with a defiant look on his face and his little hands on his hips. 

Ben raised an eyebrow. “No? Since when do you tell me no young man?”

The child, changing his defiant stance, sulked, rubbing the toe of his shoe into the carpet. 

The man looked at his son. “Nicholas, look at me!”

Sparky looked at his Papa.

“Little boy, you pick up every one of those checkers. Then you pick up your toys and march yourself up to your room to get ready for bed. I had *not* better hear anything but a *Yes Papa* come out of your mouth do you hear?” he said in the sternest voice he could manage.

Adam even looked up at his father’s words.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky replied dutifully. He began to pick up all the checkers returning them to his brothers. Once he had completed this task he picked up his toys, slamming the lid of the toy chest and stomped up the stairs to his room slamming his door. He didn’t even say good-night to his brothers or Papa. 

Hoss and Little Joe began to put the checker game away, not wanting to play anymore. 

Adam glanced at his father, then returned to reading his book, but now couldn’t concentrate. 

Ben folded his paper sighing and went upstairs to his child’s room to get him ready for bed. 

The Elder Cartwright knocked lightly at Sparky’s door, then went in. The child had taken off all his clothes, scattering them all over the bed and floor. He was struggling into his nightshirt and the boy’s father, saying nothing helped him to tug it down around him. 

Ben then went over to the washstand, poured warm water from the pitcher into the basin and handed his son a washcloth already soaped up. 

Sparky washed his face and hands and rinsed well in the basin. 

The little boy’s father poured some clean water into a small basin and supervised his child brushing his teeth with tooth powder. Once the youngster had completed these tasks he sat on the desk chair and said, “Nicky, sit down.” He indicated the bed across from him. 

Sparky looked like he would refuse, but then sat down with a huff.

“Nicholas, I want you to change your attitude young man. You’re acting disrespectful. This is the second time this evening I’ve warned you about this, I won’t be warning you again.”

The youngster sat there quietly not looking at his father. 

“Nicky, what’s the matter?” The youngster’s Papa questioned. 

The boy looked at his father and his large grey eyes sparked with anger. “Papa, it wasn’t fair sending me to bed for something that was an accident!”

“Perhaps not, but you were playing very carelessly for one of your blocks to end up in the middle of your brothers checker board.” Ben admonished. 

“I said it was an accident! If my playing is a problem, then I just won’t play anymore!” Sparky pouted. 

The older man sighed. “Nicholas, you know how to play nicely with your toys. Lately you have been playing more roughly and that is how accidents happen.”

“So, now I can’t play the way I want to? I have to follow rules about that too?” the youngster sulked.

Ben counted to ten. He hadn’t seen his child so defiant before. It seemed the more he went to school and learned, the more defiant he had become. He knew his son was gaining more and more understanding of things and how they worked in the world, but this defiance was a puzzle to him. The youngster’s whole appearance spoke of anger loud and clear. The man was mystified. Sparky’s anger had begun back in the summer. It seemed to have gotten worse after Lyle’s death, which Ben had expected and understood. Then things seemed to settle down for a while, and now, just before Christmas, it was getting worse again. The elder Cartwright was at a loss. He had already spanked his son once today for bad behavior at school. He didn’t want to have to do it again before he went to bed. 

The littlest Cartwright looked at his father. He saw the disappointment and confusion in his eyes. He felt very bad. He blinked back the tears he felt pricking his eyes and instead lashed out again. “You’re treating me unfair just because I’m little!”

Ben was shocked at this outburst. “Sparky, haven’t I been giving you a little more freedom lately? Haven’t I allowed you to play outside by yourself without my having to be outside watching you the whole time when the weather has permitted it?”

“Yes Papa.”

“Then how am I treating you unfairly because you are little?” The Cartwright Patriarch asked, raking his fingers through his hair, a bit puzzled. 

“By sending me to bed early because I accidentally ruined Hoss and Little Joe’s checker game!” The little one stated emphatically. 

“Well, son, does that give you the right to act the way you did toward your brothers, not telling them good-night and ignoring them? If you’re angry with me Nicholas it’s unfair of you to take it out on your brothers.” Ben getting eye contact with the little boy scolded. 

“Yes Papa.” Sparky hung his head. 

The child’s father got up then and sitting next to the youngster on the bed scooped him into his arms and sitting him in his lap hugged him and cuddled him close. “I don’t know what’s going on inside that smart little head of yours little boy, but I hope we can come to an understanding soon. I don’t want to be punishing you for every little thing. I love you baby.”

Sparky feeling all of a sudden safe and warm in his father’s arms cuddled in close. After a while he wrapped his little arms around Ben’s neck and said, “I love you Papa, I’m sorry for behaving badly.”

“You’re forgiven baby. In the morning, I want you to apologize to your brothers too okay?” He gave the child a little squeeze. 

Nicky sighed. “Yes Papa.”

“Now, I want you to pick up your clothes and place them neatly over the back of the chair, then get into bed.” He instructed his small son. 

“Yes Papa.” Sparky began to do as he was told. 

When the youngster had completed this task, Ben tucked the little mite in and rubbing his back told him one of his seafaring stories until the child was sound asleep. 

When the elder Cartwright returned his sons looked at him. “He’s asleep now.”

“Pa, what’s wrong with him lately?” Little Joe asked.

“I’m not sure son. He sure is acting naughty lately.” Ben replied with a heavy sigh. 

“Pa, I think he’s just trying to assert his independence.” Adam observed.

“Well, he can find a different way to do that. What he has been doing lately isn’t exactly acceptable behavior.”

“I know Pa. He can be the most delightful child and then turn into the naughtiest little boy you would ever want to meet.”

“Hopefully he’s just going through a phase which won’t last very long. I’m giving Miss Jones permission to swat him in school. I don’t want you Little Joe to have to be placed in the position of disciplining Sparky. He needs for you to be his big brother, not his disciplinarian.”

“But Pa! She’ll really let him have it. I know there’s been a few times she had that look, like she would really like to wallop the tar out of him.”

“Don’t worry Little Joe. I’ve told her she can’t give him more than three swats and only with her hand. If there is more than that required then I need to know about it. I also put in my note she is not to swat him any more than one time during the school day so she isn’t swatting all morning long.”

The youngster heaved a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have to spank Sparky in school and miss Jones wouldn’t be able to hurt his little brother either. 

<<<<>>>>

The next morning Ben helped his child get ready for school and made sure he had his note for Miss Jones. “Nicholas, I believe you have something to say to your brothers.” The man prompted.

The little boy looked at his older brothers, took a deep breath and said, “Adam, Hoss, Little Joe, I’m sorry for acting so naughty to you last night. I’m sorry I didn’t say good-night to you either.”

His older brothers smiled at him and forgave him. 

When Sparky got to school he handed Miss Jones his note. Her eyes widened a bit at what she read about being able to swat Nicholas Cartwright. She knew she would have to stay within the boundaries set, but felt a bit better that she would be able to discipline the child in this way if needed. Lately a swat or two had been needed. 

Nicky knowing now that Miss Jones could swat him in the schoolroom behaved himself pretty well for the next few days. He didn’t want to give her any reason to follow through with her new ability to discipline him. 

 

Chapter 3

 

Christmas Eve dawned bright and Sparky was surprised when the Walkers and Samuels along with Jake and Sally Robbins arrived in their sleighs. Hop Sing had been prepared for the visitors and had had breakfast ready for the families when they arrived. Shortly after the first guests were shown into the house, John Kelly showed up with Vincent and Patrick. David Jennings brought his daughter Nancy and Jason Dennison brought his daughter Kristy too. Sparky was excited to see all his schoolmates and friends arriving at the Ponderosa. In a bit the Devlins and the Pruitts also came. All the children and parents trooped into the ranch house and Hop Sing was prepared for them all. He had a separate table set up for the children and the adults and older children sat at the main table. Linda Walker kept Ricky at her side, making him sit with her. 

Sparky glanced over at where the youngsters would be sitting and his father saw the unasked question. He pulled the child onto his lap and said in a low voice that only he could hear. “Little boy, you may sit with the other children if you promise to eat most of your breakfast. If you don’t eat, I’m going to have to sit you in my lap and feed you. Okay?”

The littlest Cartwright looked up at his Papa with those large gray eyes and gave him a sunny smile. “Yes, Papa, I promise!”

“Okay then.” Ben set the little boy down and with a light swat sent him over to the children’s table to eat with his friends. Little Joe, Danny Walker, Mitch Devlin and Seth Pruitt were there to supervise and help the younger children too. Vincent Kelly helped his brother Patrick and Little Joe helped Sally, Nancy, Kristy and Sparky. Gregory and Christopher helped themselves and they all had a good time. 

Ben noticed his little son ate most of his breakfast and was satisfied with his child’s efforts. He had not wanted to fight with him about sitting near him and then having to feed him. 

When breakfast was finished Hoss and Adam, along with Pete Devlin, and Brian Walker harnessed up the sleigh and sledge. George Devlin offered to take his sleigh as well because there were more people than there was space on the two vehicles. 

All the children piled into the Sleigh Adam was driving. He had Little Joe, Mitch Devlin, Seth Pruitt, Danny Walker, Vincent Kelly, Sally Robbins, Nancy Jennings, Kristy Dennison, Gregory Walker, Christopher Samuels, Patrick Kelly and Sparky. All the children snuggled down in the straw and were covered with blankets. 

The adults, Mary Devlin, Linda and Barry walker, along with their youngest son Ricky, Ron and Joyce Samuels all rode together. Pete Devlin, Brian Walker, Hoss, John Kelly, Jason Dennison, Jake Robbins and David Jennings all rode on the sledge with Ben. They all set out to find the perfect Christmas tree.

Once they were under way Nicky climbed from the bed of the sleigh onto the seat next to his oldest brother. 

Adam glanced down at the child and smiled. “What are you doing up here little one?”

“I’m going to drive the horses!” Sparky declared.

“Are you now?”

“Yes! I can drive now.”

“Not these horses little boy.”

“Why not? I can drive my pony cart real good Adam.”

“Driving this team takes a whole lot more strength than you have little brother.”

The youngster pouted and sulked then. He swung his legs and glared at Adam.

The older boy ignored him. 

This startled the horses and they broke into a run.

“Sparky! Let go!” Adam shouted slapping the child’s hands sharply to make him release the reins. 

“Ow!” The youngster pulled his hands away quickly from the stinging slaps his oldest brother had given him. 

Adam quickly got the horses and the sleigh under control and glared at his little brother. “You, young man, will *never* do that again. Is that understood?”

“You’re being unfair, you won’t let me drive the horses when you know I know how!”

“Nicholas.” Adam said in that low dangerous tone that Sparky had begun to recognize as being the one telling him not to push, but he pushed anyway. 

“Well, it is unfair!”

The other boy said no more. 

Ben seeing what happened held his breath. He didn’t need for the sleigh to tip and dump all those children out. Someone might get hurt. Just what the heck did that little boy think he was doing? He had seen Adam slap the child’s hands to get him to let go and the dark look his oldest son had given his little brother after exchanging a few words. He knew his child was going to have to be disciplined for what he had done. 

When they arrived at the tree site Sparky made to jump down off the seat of the sleigh. He knew he was in trouble, but didn’t want to have to deal with the consequences. 

The oldest Cartwright brother quickly snatched him by the back of his coat collar. “Not so fast Nicholas. You and I are going to have a little talk and then I believe you and Pa will be having a necessary talk as well.”

“Adam, I’m sorry.”

“That’s not going to cut it little boy.” The young man looked sternly at his little brother. 

Big tears began to course down the little mite’s face. He hated to have his oldest brother mad at him. 

<<<<>>>>

As the adults helped the children in the back of the sleigh out they were led away to seek out what they could find. The little girls made snow angels and the boys all started throwing snowballs at each other. The woods rang with the shouts and laughter of the children and their parents as they all moved away from the sleighs. 

Adam kept his grip on Sparky and Ben strode over. “Pa, I want to talk to my baby brother before you take care of business. Is that okay?”

“Sure son. After all, it was you who he pulled that little tantrum with.” The man strode away a little distance. 

The young man turned to the child. “Little brother, what you did back there, grabbing the reins was very dangerous. You startled the horses and we could have tipped over. If that happened some of the other children in the back of the sleigh could have gotten hurt. You would have felt very bad about that I think.”

Sparky hung his head, ashamed. 

“Nicky, look at me.” Adam instructed.

The youngster looked up and into his brother’s stern hazel eyes. 

“I’m going to let Pa punish you for that, but you will not be riding with me in the sleigh on the way back. You will be riding with Pa in the sledge.”

“Adam! Please, No! I want to ride with you! I promise I’ll be good! I promise I won’t grab the horses like that again!”

“I know, Nicky, but you will be riding with Pa.”

The little boy began to cry hard then and the older brother just picked the child up off the seat of the sleigh and brought him over to his father. Once the man took the crying boy, Adam strode off in the direction of the others without looking back. 

Ben walked over to a fallen tree, carrying his child and sat there. “Nicholas, it looks like I need to have a very necessary talk with you for what you did back there. That was dangerous and I don’t want you to do that again. Is that understood?”

“Yes Papa. Adam is very mad at me!” Sparky wailed, crying hard again. 

The man knew the child was upset because his brother had not yet forgiven him. Ben knew it had been hard for his oldest son to scold the child and then leave him to his fate.

“Well, little boy, He will probably forgive you and not be mad anymore once you have been punished.”

“Oooh Papa, please don’t spank me!” The little one cried. 

“I’m sorry son, but I’m going to have to teach you a pretty hard lesson. I don’t ever want you to do such a thing again.”

The child’s father placed the little boy across his lap. 

Sparky realized in short order his Papa hadn’t been kidding when he told him he was going to teach him a very hard lesson. The littlest Cartwright began to yelp with the very first swat. When it was over the little boy was wailing hard. Ben hugged him and held him until he stopped crying and wiped his eyes and blew his nose. 

“P-Papa, Adam said I had to ride back with you. He said I couldn’t ride in the sleigh.”

“Well, then you will have to ride back with me, won’t you?”

“Yes Papa.” 

The man gave his child one more hug and swinging him onto his shoulders walked into the woods to join their friends. 

When Ben put the little tyke down he wandered off to join the other children. The elder Cartwright saw Adam and his oldest son raised an eyebrow. Ben gave a slight nod and the eldest son knew his Pa had followed through. He felt a bit bad for his baby brother, but knew they couldn’t let him get away with acting out his displeasure, especially when it could cause injury to himself or the people with them. The young man sighed, then walked with his father and the others to seek out the perfect tree. 

 

Chapter 4 

 

As Sparky walked through the soft snow, he saw Ricky Walker playing near a pine tree that was laden with snow. He found a branch low enough for him to climb onto and knowing he was forbidden to climb trees yet, couldn’t resist this opportunity. Hopping onto the low branch, he was able to make his way up into the tree. He waited until Ricky was directly underneath the branch he was standing on and jumped up and down, shaking the branches sending a cascade of snow down onto the boy. This action caused the littlest Cartwright to slip and fall out of the tree on top of Ricky, smashing the younger boy face down into the snow. 

Ricky tried to buck Sparky off, but the little boy seeing his advantage took it to get back at the other youngster. The little mite kneeled on him, not letting him up. The child’s cries brought the adults running and Ben seeing his little boy kneeling on Ricky’s back plucked him up off the other child.

“Nicholas! Just what do you think you’re doing?” Ben frowned. 

“Getting back at Ricky for all the times he has pushed me down!” Sparky said smugly. 

Ben, not wanting to tolerate his child’s smug attitude, upended his son. The little boy put his hands back in an attempt to protect his bottom from the assault he knew was coming. His father removed the little hands and administered three sharp swats to the youngster’s backside which set Sparky to wailing loudly. Ben usually didn’t discipline his children in front of others, but this was something he had no choice about. His son could have really hurt the other boy. 

Linda had pulled her little boy to his feet and was brushing the snow off the child. He wasn’t hurt, just upset that Sparky had held him down in the snow. 

“Mama! He jumped on top of me out of the tree!” Ricky Walker wailed loudly. 

Ben, having just finished spanking the littlest Cartwright looked at his son. “Did you jump on Ricky out of the tree? Were you climbing a tree when you’re not supposed to?   
” The man now eyed his child sternly.

Sparky looked at his father nervously. “Papa, it was an accident! I only meant for the snow on the tree branches to fall on him. I slipped and fell out of the tree and landed on top of Ricky. Once I had him down I didn’t want to let him up!” The child explained with a bit of a worried look on his face now.

“So young man, you were climbing a tree when you weren’t supposed to, tried to play a trick on Ricky and then fell out of the tree, not thinking of how someone could get hurt.”   
Ben eyed his child sternly. 

Sparky hung his head again. “Yes Papa.”

The elder Cartwright picked up his son and excusing himself strode back to where the sleighs were parked. He administered a sharp swat to the child’s still stinging bottom eliciting another wail from Sparky. He plopped the boy up onto the driver’s seat of the sledge. “Ow!” The youngster squirmed on his bottom. 

Ben eyed his child disappointment reflecting in his eyes. “You sit there and don’t you even think of getting down from there do you hear little boy? I am very disappointed in your behavior and the decisions you have been making today. I’m warning you right now Nicholas, if you get down from there without permission from me, when we get home I’m taking you to the barn and we’re going to have a session with the hairbrush getting directly to the seat of the problem, is that clear?” He gave his little boy his sternest warning look. 

“Yes Papa.” Sparky squirmed uncomfortably on the seat, but didn’t move. He knew his father did not make idle threats. 

The man continued, a sad look in his dark brown eyes. He hugged his child to him and said, “I want you to know baby, you’re forgiven now that I’ve punished you for this latest episode. I’m not sure what has gotten into you Sparky. It doesn’t please me little one to discipline you this way. I wanted this to be a fun family time for all of us, not to have to deal with bad behavior. You are feeling bad I know, but I want you to know I too feel as bad for having to enforce this kind of discipline. I’m sure we won’t be much longer, but now you will be missing out on all the fun, voting on the best tree and seeing it cut down. I want you to think about that while you’re sitting here waiting for everyone else to return.” Ben turned and walked away from the little mite, his own heart breaking. 

The little boy sat there shivering in the cold while waiting for the others to come back, thinking about the things his Papa had told him. He felt perfectly miserable.

The elder Cartwright returned to their friends and shortly Adam came back to check on the little mite.   
Sparky sat there squirming and shivering. 

Adam went to the sleigh and took one of the blankets and wrapped it around the obviously cold youngster. “Are you okay little one?” The oldest Cartwright boy asked.

The little boy said nothing, just cried silent tears. The older boy sighed. He reached up to take his little brother off the seat and into his arms when Sparky said, “No Adam, Papa said if I left the seat without his permission he was going to take me to the barn when we got home!”

“Well, we don’t want Pa to do that do we?”

“No.” Sparky did snuggle up into the blanket, not shivering any longer. 

The little mite’s oldest brother smiled up at him. “Little brother, I want you to know I’m not mad at you anymore, you’re forgiven for what you did with the horses. I’m still rather disappointed that you’ve been behaving so naughty today. You’ve missed out on quite a bit of fun as a result. I feel bad that that happened. I would have liked to have had you by my side as we picked out the tree and cut it down. Pa and the others will be here soon with it. I know Santa will still be bringing you presents for Christmas, but he won’t be very happy with you.”

The little one ducked his head. “Yes Adam.”

The young man reached over then, hugging his baby brother and Sparky squirmed on his bottom.   
“Sore, huh?” The older boy asked matter-of-factly. 

“Yes. Papa spanks hard.” The little one said, embarrassed. 

“Don’t give him anymore reasons to spank you then.” Adam advised. 

“I’ll try.” The youngster stated seriously. 

“Good boy.” Adam smiled at the child and Sparky gave him a sheepish smile back. 

<<<<>>>>

In a while the others were coming back and dragging a wonderful looking Christmas tree with them. 

When the tree was lashed down and everyone piled into their respective vehicles Ben stepped up onto the driver’s seat. He noticed his son wrapped up in a blanket and was glad Adam had done that. He had been so upset with the boy he hadn’t thought of how cold he’d get just sitting there. He smiled down at his little son. “Ready to go?”

“Yes, Papa?” The little one asked, looking up at his father.

“Yes Sparky?” The Elder Cartwright responded. 

“I’m sorry for doing that to Ricky and climbing the tree.” The Littlest Cartwright apologized. 

“You’re forgiven baby.” Ben reached over and pulled the child close to his side and   
Sparky snuggled up to his Papa. 

Once they got back to the ranch all the men helped get the tree into the house with the women directing. The children stayed out of the way. Sparky stood absently rubbing his backside. 

Sally, Nancy and Kristy came up to him. “Sparky, that was a mean thing to do to Ricky.”

“I know and I apologized for it Sally. I just couldn’t help it though. He’s done so many mean things to me in the past. I shouldn’t have done it though. “Nicky flushed in embarrassment. 

“Yes, your Papa really spanked you hard for that too.” Sally smiled at him. 

“Yes. It hurt.” The littlest Cartwright admitted, blushing slightly. 

“Sparky, you looked so cute though putting your hands behind you while your Papa was spanking you.” Sally teased. 

The little boy then blushed red to the roots of his hair. “Sally!”

“Aw, Sparky, you are too cute for words!” Nancy Jennings chimed in.

“Yes, and standing here rubbing your bottom still. You are so adorable!” Kristy Dennison added. 

Before long all three little girls were teasing Sparky unmercifully. 

Finally, Nancy and Kristy walked back to the other children and Sally stood there still teasing the boy.

“Sally, come on! Stop now!” The Littlest Cartwright said sharply. 

“Aw Sparky, you’re so cute when you’re mad!” The little girl continued to tease. 

Jake Robbins, seeing and hearing what was going on stepped up behind his daughter and scooping her up walked over to the porch put his foot up on one of the steps and flipping her over his knee swatted her backside until she put her own hands behind her to try to deflect the smarting smacks. 

“Now who’s cute putting their hands behind them when they’re being spanked young lady?”

“Daddy, I’m sorry!” The child cried. 

Jake stopped the spanking and Sally couldn’t stop herself from rubbing the seat of her jeans. “Ooh Daddy! That hurt!”

“Not so cute now that it’s you is it little girl?”

“No Daddy.” She replied wiping away her own tears. 

“Good, then you go over there and apologize to Sparky for teasing him.” Her father ordered sternly. 

“Yes Daddy.” Sally replied contritely. 

The little girl went over to the youngest Cartwright. “Sparky, I’m sorry for teasing you. Having a sore bottom is no fun.”

“I accept your apology Sally.” The little boy smiled at her then. “It did look cute when you put your hands behind you to stop your daddy from spanking you though.”

“Sparky!” Sally reddened.

“Now we’re even.” The littlest Cartwright grinned. 

Sally laughed and Sparky joined her in the laughter. 

Ben and Jake glanced over at their children satisfied that they were getting along together. 

 

Chapter 5

 

Everyone went inside for hot chocolate and cookies which Hop Sing had prepared. The little one was limping a bit and Ben noticing called the child to him. “Sparky, come over here son.”

The youngster went over to his father. 

“Are you hurting?”

“A little Papa. I’m a bit sore from falling out of the tree I guess.”

Ben pulled his little boy onto his lap to examine his ankles and knees. His right ankle was a bit swollen, but not bad. “It doesn’t look too bad. You stay off that as much as you can though okay?”

“Okay Papa.” 

<<<<>>>>

After the tree trimming which Sparky helped with and placed the star on top everyone admired their handiwork and then the candles were lit and the tree blazed in all its splendor.

When the guest all departed Ben picked up his little boy and brought him to the wash house where Hop Sing had prepared a hot bath with something in the water to help with Sparky’s slight sprain. When the child was through with his bath Ben brought him up to bed and tucked him in, kissing his head. Then he made it to all his other boy’s rooms and went to bed himself. 

<<<<>>>>

On Christmas day morning, Sparky remembered his Papa had promised he wouldn’t get any spankings on Christmas. He had forgotten however that he still could get swatted. He stopped at Little Joe’s room and they had gone downstairs in their nightshirts to see what Santa had brought them this year. 

Their father, hearing his little boys rummaging around peeked out from the stairs and grinned to see his youngest children being partners in crime. They had managed to get their stockings down and had their mouths full of fruit and candy.  
“Good morning boys. Usually we complete our chores and have breakfast before attacking our stockings and presents.” Ben said with mock sternness, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It was so cute to see them sitting there, their mouths full of the bounty they had managed to acquire. 

The two youngsters glanced up startled at their father’s words. They laid their stockings down and Ben walked the rest of the way downstairs and taking each one into his arms, gave them a big hug. He then sent them back upstairs to wash and dress. He followed Sparky up to his room in order to help him. 

“Papa, is you’re promise to not spank me on Christmas still good?” The Littlest Cartwright asked.

“Baby, yes, my promise is still good. You know I always keep my promises. Don’t forget the other part to that promise though, and that is you can still receive a swat or two if needed.” He grinned at his little son. 

The little boy remembered his father’s words and looking up at him, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, said, “Yes Papa.”

Once the little one was dressed Ben checked his ankle. The little mite winced a little, but it wasn’t swollen and so he let him walk downstairs and to the barn. 

Sparky passed through the kitchen getting a carrot to give Blaze for Christmas. 

Once in the barn they all pitched in to do the chores and the littlest Cartwright wincing a bit scrambled up onto the wall of Blaze’s stall and was reaching out to try to give his pony a Christmas carrot when he nearly tumbled inside. 

Adam seeing his little brother from the corner of his eye caught him before he fell. The youngster had dropped the carrot into Blaze’s hay.   
“Little one, you are not supposed to be up here and you were supposed to wait for me to help you give Blaze his Christmas carrot!” He flipped Sparky over his left arm and gave him two sharp swats.

“Oww! Adam!” The young man set his little brother upright and there were tears in his large grey eyes. 

“You swatted me hard!” Sparky accused his brother.

“Yes, I did. You were doing something dangerous and almost got hurt! I don’t *ever* want to see you do that again!”

A couple of large tears trickled down the little boy’s face and Adam sighed and wiped them away. 

“I’m sorry. I should have waited.”

“You’re forgiven little one, just don’t let it happen again, okay?” The oldest Cartwright brother set his tiny little brother down on the barn floor. 

“Yes Adam.” Sparky replied a bit sadly. 

The older boy scooped up the youngster and hugged him tight and smiled. Sparky knew then he had been truly forgiven and snuggled up to him. 

Ben observing this whole scene just shook his head. It was going to be a long day.

After breakfast they all adjourned to the great room and went through their stockings and opened all their presents. This year Sparky had received a brand-new sled and he was excited about it. “Papa, I’m big enough now to go sledding?”

“Only if you are being supervised little boy. You are *not* under *any* circumstances to go sledding alone is that understood?” Ben admonished sternly, gaining eye contact with his son. 

“Yes Papa.” The child responded, knowing and understanding his father was serious. 

In a while, Ben took Little Joe and Sparky outside to slide down a large drift that had formed just beyond the barn. The boys flew down the hill on their sleds and hollered and whooped until they were both tired out. 

The elder Cartwright watched smiling. He, Adam and Hoss even took a few turns going down the hill which delighted both his youngest sons. 

“Little Joe! It’s my turn to go down first!” Sparky shouted and frowned.

“No, Sparky, you went first last time!” Little Joe announced.

“Uh uh, you went first, it’s my turn!” The little boy argued.

Ben hearing the Littlest Cartwright becoming argumentative called up to the boys, “Little Joe, let your brother come down the hill first!”

Joe looking down at his father understood what was going to happen and smiled. “Okay, Pa.” He turned to his little brother. “Sparky, go ahead, you can go first.”

The youngster took his sled, headed it downhill, jumping on it on his stomach as it took off flying. When he got to the bottom his Papa strode over and picked up the little mite. “Sparky, I believe it’s time for you to go down for a nap. You’ve been playing hard all morning.”

No, Papa! I’m not tired!” the child wailed.

“I know better little boy, and you are going down for a nap.” Ben informed the youngster. 

“Papa! I don’t want to!” Sparky now had tears coming down his face. 

The man just carried him into the house, stripped off his coat, hat and mittens and brought the little mite up to his room. Once there, he pulled off his shoes and wet socks, then stripped him of his wet jeans and under drawers, then his shirt. Once the little boy was naked he pulled a nightshirt over him and tucked him into bed.   
“You will take a nap now. When you wake up you may get dressed and it will probably be time for dinner.” The little one’s Papa informed him. 

Sparky gave his father an angry look, but said nothing. Ben just rubbed the child’s back and he was asleep in minutes. 

Little Joe played for a while longer, but without his brother wasn’t having as much fun and put both their sleds in the barn. 

When he came in from the cold he saw his father. “Pa, is Sparky all right?”

“He’s just fine little Joe. He’s sound asleep.” Ben informed his young son, tousling his golden-brown curls. 

“Boy Pa, he sure can get upset when he’s tired.” Little Joe observed. 

“Yes, he can son. When he begins to argue about things like that it’s usually a pretty good sign he needs a nap. You shouldn’t argue with him, just let him have his way and let me or Adam know and we’ll put him down for a nap.” He explained. 

“Okay Pa.” Little Joe replied with a grin. 

Ben then took his next youngest child into his arms and held him for a long time. Little   
Joe snuggled into his father’s arms content. 

When Sparky awoke he was a bit disgruntled. He peeled off his nightshirt and found under drawers, a shirt, jeans and socks. He dressed himself, putting on his shoes which were still a bit damp and went downstairs. 

Hoss heard little footsteps on the stairs and turned to see his littlest brother coming down. “Hi there Sparky, did you have a good nap?”

“Yes Hoss. Where’s everyone?” The child asked. 

“Out taking care of the barn chores. Do you want to go down to the barn?” Hoss asked his little brother. 

“Yes. I’d like that.” The youngster replied looking way up into his older brother’s blue eyes. 

Hoss helped him with his coat, hat and mittens and they walked down to the barn. Ben and Adam were about finished and Little Joe was just putting the finishing touches on Cochise. 

Sparky climbed up on Blaze’s stall and Adam seeing this came over, plucked him off and gave him a little swat, setting him down.  
The little boy just reached up toward his big brother to give him a hug and Adam picked him up, letting the littlest Cartwright hug him. Then, kissing the child, put him down again. 

While the others finished up in the barn Sparky went over to his pony cart. He studied how his pony’s harness hooked up to the cart. He had an idea.

<<<<>>>>

A few days later Ben, Hoss, Adam and Little Joe had gone out to see to some cattle who were floundering in some snow drifts and to bring feed out to the rest. 

Sparky was allowed to play outside now without close supervision, although Hop Sing Still glanced outside from time to time to see what the littlest Cartwright was into. 

The little boy slipped into the barn and imitating his harness rigging to the pony cart devised a similar set up attaching Blaze to his sled. He led Blaze out of the barn and getting onto his sled, got the little pony to walk, pulling the boy behind him. He tried to guide the pony up the snow hill they had been using for sledding and halfway up Blaze floundered, the snow being too deep for him. The little pony was stuck. The child got off the sled and sunk into soft snow, now up to his waist and was unable to move either. 

<<<<>>>>

Hoss rode Chubb back to the ranch to get more rope from the barn to help pull out the cattle that were stuck in the snow drifts in the south pasture. As he rounded the barn he saw a sight that made his heart pound furiously. His baby brother was stuck in the deep snow with his pony. Sparky had tried to make his way back to his sled and was trying to clamber up onto it without success. Hoss rode Chubb up to the child and reached down and pulled him up onto his horse.   
“Little brother, just what the heck do ya think yar doin?”

Sparky, feeling himself being plucked up and all of a sudden sitting on his older brother’s tall horse flushed. “Hoss, Blaze got stuck in the snow! When I tried to help him, I got stuck too!” The little boy informed his older brother worriedly. 

Hoss shook his head looking at the makeshift harness and sled. “I’ll help Blaze. I’m taking ya down to the barn. Ya stay put there do ya hear?” Hoss scolded as he headed in that direction. 

“Yes.” Sparky said ducking his head. 

Hoss took the little one down to the barn and put him on the ground. He rode Chubb back up to where Blaze was stuck in the snow and unhitched him from the rig his little brother had hitched him to and led him back to the barn too. Then he went back and gathered the tack, harness and sled and brought it all back to the barn. 

He picked up the little boy, sitting him on a hay bale so he would be at eye level. “Just what in tarnation did ya think ya were doin little boy?” Hoss asked sternly. 

Sparky was a bit nervous now. He seldom had seen this brother angry with him. “I wanted Blaze to pull me in my sled.”

“I see. Well Sparky, he can’t do that and ya should have asked one of us how to help ya!” The older boy again scolded the child. 

“I’m sorry.” Sparky had tears coming down his face now.

Hoss turned from him, leaving the little mite on the hay bail and took care of the little pony, rubbing him down and making sure he was warm and unfettered. He left the tangle of harness and tack attached to the sled. He wanted Pa to see what his little brother had done. Then he returned to the youngster and picked him up and placed him on the ground. “Little one, ya get up on to the house. Ya stay there until Pa gets home. He’s gonna know about this and we’ll see what he wants to do about it.” Hoss told the child still with a stern tone to his voice. 

“Hoss, please don’t tell Papa!” Sparky begged.

“No, little brother, ya coulda hurt yaself as well as ya pony doing this kinda thing. Sparky, it’s about time ya learned that ya just can’t go around doing things that ya know nothing about and then not have to experience the consequences.”  
Hoss sent him on his way with a sharp swat which also was very unusual from his gentle giant of a brother. 

Sparky wailed, rubbed his bottom and ran up to the house, his heart broken because Hoss had swatted him. 

When Sparky came into the house he got out of his coat and went up to his room and fell asleep on his bed. 

Hoss gathered up the rope he needed and headed on out to the pasture. When he got there, he told his father what he had found back at the house. 

Ben was upset. He didn’t know what to do with his child. He thought up more ways to get into mischief than all his three older boys put together. 

When he got back home he saw the tangle of traces, harness and sled. He shook his head. After taking care of Buck, he went up to the house to find his little boy. He didn’t see him downstairs and went to his room. He found Sparky sound asleep. He sat on the bed and gently woke the little boy.  
“Nicky, wake up. Papa wants to talk to you.”

The youngster opened his large grey eyes and looked up at his father. “Hi Papa.”

“Hi, yourself little boy. I understand you and Blaze got stuck in the snowdrift by the barn today.” Ben shared, gaining eye contact with his child. 

Sparky sat up then. “Papa, Hoss swatted me! Blaze and me got stuck in the drift. I didn’t know that would happen, I wanted him to pull my sled like he does my pony cart. I tried to put together traces and a harness like I have for my pony cart for my sled.”

“So, I saw. You will come out to the barn with me little boy and untangle everything, put it all back in the tack room and then we are going to have a little talk about all this.” The Elder Cartwright informed his little son. 

Sparky saw the anger in the dark brown eyes. “Yes Papa.”

The child put on his shoes and Ben helped him with his coat. Then they went to the barn. 

Sparky looked at the tangled mess of harness and traces attached to his sled. “Papa, where do I start?”

“I don’t know Nicholas, but you had better figure it out. You will untangle all of this and put everything back where it belongs and you will do it now!” Ben said exasperated. He applied a sharp swat to Sparky’s behind. 

His little hands flew to cover his bottom and rubbed. 

“Now get going!” His father ordered. 

Ben supervised the child untangling the leather. He didn’t help, just watched as the little mite pulled on the leather strips and hardware until each piece had come loose and been replaced in the tack room where it belonged. Once all the pieces were put away Ben picked up the sled and brought it up into the loft. 

“Papa! What are you doing with my sled?” Sparky cried.

“I’m putting it up little boy. You will not have the use of it for the next two weeks” The little boy’s Papa informed him. 

“Papa!” Sparky wailed tears coming down his face hard now.

“Until I can be sure that you will follow the rules and use your sled under proper supervision it will remain where you won’t be able to get at it little boy. What you did today was dangerous. You and Blaze could both have been hurt! What if Hoss hadn’t found you? Blaze could have gotten sick and died from the cold and you could have gotten frostbite and lost fingers or toes! Because you can’t be trusted to stay out of trouble you also will not be allowed to play outside without any supervision. From now on, until I can be certain you will follow the rules you will not play outside unless Myself, one of your brothers, or Hop Sing is watching you.” Ben pronounced. 

“Papa! That’s not fair! You said I could play without supervision!” The Littlest Cartwright wailed unhappily. 

“Nicholas, it is perfectly fair. When children can’t be trusted to stay out of mischief then they need to be supervised. I’ll have no arguments about this young man!” The Cartwright patriarch scolded.

Sparky pouted and sulked. 

Ben ignored this. 

“You may go back up to the house now.” he told the little one. 

“No! I’ll do what I want!” Sparky cried stomping his little foot in anger and frustration.

“Little boy, I’m getting pretty tired of hearing you tell me no.” Ben picked up the little boy and Sparky began to howl and kick and wriggle in full tantrum. 

He carried the child up to the house and into his room. He stripped him of his coat and   
then his clothes and put him into a nightshirt. Sparky wailed and cried the whole time.   
Once Ben got him into his night shirt he plopped Him onto his bed. He went over to the wash basin, got a wash cloth and washed the little mite’s tear stained face. “Sparky, if you insist on carrying on like this you will remain here in your room for the rest of the night. I’ll bring you your dinner, you will eat here in your room and you will stay here until morning.” He informed the child.

“Papa! I’m sorry! Please don’t make me stay in my room and not come down to supper!” The youngster begged. 

“Then you crawl into your bed and take a nap right now little boy. If you can behave yourself until supper time then I’ll let you come down for supper. I’ll decide at that time if you will stay in your room for the rest of the night.” Ben said sternly.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky replied contritely.

The Elder Cartwright held the covers of his bed back and his baby son crawled in and laid down. Ben rubbed his back and the child was soon asleep. Ben sighed. His child was so bright and was pushing all the limits as far as he could. He had felt like giving the little boy a sound spanking for this latest fiasco, but also knew spanking him all the time didn’t do much good. This different kind of punishment might be a bit more effective. 

 

Chapter 6 

 

Sparky awoke feeling a bit better. He was still angry that his Papa had said he would now have to have supervision to play outside again. He couldn’t understand what had been so bad about what he had done. Maybe next time he should just choose one of the bigger horses instead of little Blaze. the horse wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the snow like his pony had and then he wouldn’t have ended up in all this trouble. 

Ben peeked in on his child just before supper and seeing him awake sat on the edge of the bed. “What are you thinking little boy?” He asked.

“Papa, if I had used a bigger horse instead of Blaze I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble because a bigger horse wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the snow.” Sparky reasoned.

The man sighed. His little son still had not quite understood why his father and his brothers had been upset with him. “Sparky, it wasn’t only the size of the horse, although you probably wouldn’t have gotten stuck if you had used a bigger horse, it was the way you had everything arranged. You didn’t have the proper harness for the job. Nicky, sometimes you just can’t take the arrangement from one thing, like your pony cart and try to hook it up to a sled meant for sliding. They just don’t fit together. A sleigh is meant to be drawn by horses and so has the proper arrangement for the harness and traces and such. A sled meant for sliding doesn’t have the structure you need to have a horse pull it.” The Elder Cartwright explained to his little son. 

“Why not Papa?” The child asked, looking into his father’s eyes. 

“Because they are designed for two very different purposes. Just like your pony’s harness would not be able to pull a full-sized wagon.” Ben told the boy. 

“Oh.” Sparky looked disappointed. 

“Well, little boy, let’s get you down to dinner. I have decided that after you eat, you are coming right back up to your room and you will stay here until morning.” The child’s Papa informed him. 

Sparky pouted about this. 

Ben seeing this said, “Young man, you could just stay here, I’ll bring you a tray and you can eat your supper at your desk.”

“Well, you might as well just do that! What’s the use of me going downstairs in my nightshirt and then just coming right back up to my room then?” Sparky said angrily. 

The child’s father sighed. “Okay, then I will do just that. You will stay here and I will bring you your supper. When you are through you may just go to bed.”

“No! I don’t want to!” Sparky said defiantly. 

Ben found himself counting to ten in his head again. “Little boy, you are getting dangerously close to the end of my patience. You will not like the results of pushing me so hard young man.” he told his son quietly. 

Sparky wisely said nothing more. 

He left the room and Hop Sing put together a tray for the littlest Cartwright. The Cartwright patriarch brought it up to him and sat there and watched his son while he ate at his desk. When the little one had eaten enough to satisfy his Papa he took the tray away and tucked the child in for the night.

Ben went downstairs and sitting in the great room sat staring into the fire. He had no idea what to do with this bright, curious, angry defiant child. His discipline didn’t seem to be very effective lately. Sometimes it just seemed to make matters worse instead of better. 

Adam came into the room and seeing his father deep in thought said nothing, just picked up his book and sat in his favorite chair and pretended to read. He knew Pa was worried about the little mite. He too was stumped. He had no idea why the child had taken on this attitude of late. It was like he was doing his best to push everyone away. Like he didn’t want anyone to get close to him. Adam thought about this for a while. Sparky had begun to become angry after he had come back to them from being abused by his natural father. After Lyle had been killed the boy had not wanted the family to get close. He had physically rejected their attempts to get close to him. He had seemed to resolve that, but… maybe… he still was rejecting everyone on an emotional level. Things seemed to have leveled out for a little while, while he was in the limelight of being a hero, but now that had faded away… hmm… the young man wondered if his little brother was still having a difficult time trusting that his family still loved him and would stand by him, no matter what. He wondered if this was what all the testing was about. Would they still love him and would they still be consistent in enforcing the consequences of poor behavior? Adam continued to puzzle his thoughts out. 

<<<<>>>>

The next morning Sparky awoke still feeling out of sorts. He flung his covers back and decided he was big enough now to pour his own water and wash up and take care of himself. Grasping the large pitcher in his little hands he began to pour the water into the basin. The pitcher began to slip and the little boy tried to grip harder, but lost the battle with the pitcher falling onto the basin and shattering glass fragments all over the place. Sparky, angry began to pick up the larger pieces and smashed them to the floor causing more shards of glass to go flying. 

When Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe came rushing upon the scene they were all shocked. The littlest Cartwright stood in the middle of the mess crying hard and smashing more and more pieces of the shattered remains of pitcher and basin. 

The child’s father carefully made his way through the shards of glass that littered the floor and plucked his son up and carried him to his own room. Sparky was crying hard and Ben carefully inspected him for any cuts or imbedded glass and was very happy to see that miraculously there was not one sliver of glass imbedded in his child or one cut. He sat on his bed and put his son in his lap, rocked him, crooned softly to him and held the trembling body until the little boy had calmed. Then he looked his child in the eye and asked, “Nicholas, what was that all about Young man?”

Sparky refused to look at his Papa or to reply. 

Ben just held him and cuddled him close and thought about what he should do to help his young son. 

He asked, “Sparky, why did you try to pour water from the pitcher when you know you are not quite strong enough to do that. Your hands are too small to handle something like the pitcher very well.”

“I thought I could do it now Papa. I’m a year older and so should be able to do more things now.”

Ben sighed. “Son, you may be a year older, but your body has not changed enough for you to perform certain tasks. This is one of them.” He reached out and brushed his child’s cheek gently. 

Sparky said nothing, just hung his head. 

“Baby, why were you smashing the rest of the pieces of the pitcher and basin?” his father asked quietly. 

“I was mad Papa. I wanted to be able to do this myself and I couldn’t.” The little boy replied, shamefaced. 

“Son, you just can’t do some things by yourself yet, it’s not your fault that your body hasn’t caught up to what you think you should be able to do. This is one of those things. You thought because you were a year older since the last time this happened, you should be able to pour from a heavy pitcher filled with water, but your body isn’t ready because you haven’t grown enough so your hands are not large enough to be able to handle this particular task without mishap. Don’t worry Sweet Pea, it’ll come in time.” Ben hugged the child.

Sparky began to cry. “Papa, when will I be big enough? I’m tired of being too little to do anything!”

Ben thought about this for a while, holding his son close. Perhaps there was a chore he could give Sparky. Maybe it was time for Little Joe to give over the egg collecting and let this little one handle this chore. Little Joe had begun to collect the eggs when he wasn’t much older than Sparky and perhaps it was time to give the little boy some more responsibility. 

“Sweet Pea, Papa is going to give you a very important job to do.” The little boy’s father informed him. 

“What kind of a job can I do Papa?” The little mite asked curiously. 

“Well now… you are big enough to pick up your toys and to help a little with Blaze, I think that perhaps it’s time you took over the job of gathering the eggs from the chickens every morning.” Ben stated.

Sparky didn’t look too enthused about this. “Papa, they peck at you and bite you!”

“Sometimes, but if you learn from Little Joe I think you can get as good as he is about collecting the eggs and hardly ever getting pecked.” Ben said encouragingly. 

“I don’t think I want to collect the eggs Papa.” Sparky gave Ben one of his defiant looks, crossing his little arms in front of him across his chest.

Ben was a little surprised by the child’s demeanor. It was about time this little boy began to realize that with growing up there were more expectations and more responsibilities. He eyed the child.  
“Nicholas, if I tell you you will be collecting the eggs from now on, then you will be doing that as your chore. We all have chores we have to do around here and this is one you definitely are old enough, smart enough and big enough to do. Little Joe is getting older and bigger too and he can take over some of the other chores that need to be done, while you take over chores he has done as you get older and bigger.” The Elder Cartwright pronounced. 

“But Papa, I don’t like the chickens and I don’t want to collect the eggs!” The youngster protested. 

“Nicholas, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want to collect the eggs or don’t like the chickens. I’m not particularly fond of them myself and neither are Adam or Hoss, but we all had to take our turn as children collecting eggs. I expect you to do the same. You are after all, a member of this family young man. We can’t pick and choose which chores we like or want to do. If that were the case a lot of things wouldn’t get done around here.” The Cartwright patriarch scolded. 

“But Papa!” Sparky began to argue.

“I won’t argue with you son. Starting tomorrow Little Joe will show you how to collect and know which eggs are good or bad. I’ll expect you to pay attention and learn this job. After a week of Little Joe helping you to learn how to do this you will be doing it by yourself every day after you get up, washed and dressed. Is that understood?” Ben asked sharply. 

Sparky sulked and pouted. “I won’t do it.” 

“Then you’ll be punished for not doing it.” Ben told the child sternly.

Sparky peeked up at his father through his long lashes and seeing his stern expression decided to just let it go for now. He’d see what he could do about not doing this chore tomorrow. 

 

Chapter 7

 

Hop Sing cleaned up the smashed glass and water on the floor of Sparky’s room and brought a new pitcher and basin. He stopped by Ben’s room.   
“Mister Ben, new pitcher and basin in boy’s room. All cleaned up.”

Ben looked up at Hop Sing. “Thank you Hop Sing. I appreciate that.”

“You most welcome Mister Ben.”

Ben picked up Sparky and took him back to his room, helping him with washing up and getting dressed. Then he led the child downstairs to breakfast. 

The rest of that day Sparky did everything he could to test Ben’s patience. They were snowbound again and the child played roughly with his toys, throwing his blocks around, jumping off the landing of the stairs, whining, pouting, sulking, crying when Ben stood him in the corner a couple of times and acting defiant other times. Ben finally tired of dealing with his little boy put him to bed early amid wails and a tantrum which earned the little boy several swats on his bottom. When the child was finally asleep Ben rubbed his hands over his face tiredly. He wasn’t certain just how many more days of this he could handle without really losing his temper with the little one. Even Adam who generally could get Sparky to be cooperative when Ben couldn’t hadn’t had much success today. 

When Ben came back downstairs his boys looked at him questioningly. “He’s finally asleep.” Ben informed them. 

“Wow Pa, he really was a handful today. What’s got into him?” Little Joe picked at some threads on a blanket that he had wrapped himself in in front of the fire.

“I have no clue Little Joe. By the way, you are to take your little brother tomorrow and teach him how to collect the eggs. I want him to take over this task on a daily basis. You can work with him for a week, but then he’s on his own after that.”

“Are you sure he’s ready for that Pa?” The youngster asked anxiously. 

“You weren’t much older than him when you began to do it Little Joe and I think it’s about time he began to have something responsible to do around here.” The elder Cartwright replied tiredly.

Little Joe wasn’t relishing this task if his little brother’s mood today was any indication of what he was going to have to deal with in the morning. He said nothing though, just acknowledged his father’s instructions.

<<<<>>>>

The next morning Ben poured the water for his son and watched as he washed and dressed. Once he was ready he shooed him downstairs and got him into his coat and hat.   
Little Joe joined them and taking his little brother by the hand brought him out to the chickens. 

“Little Joe, I don’t want to do this!” Sparky complained loudly.

“Little brother, I’m not exactly relishing teaching you how to do this anymore than you are anxious to learn! Pa says you have to learn, so I have to teach you. Don’t give me a hard time about it or I’ll have to get Pa.” Little Joe told the little mite sternly.

Sparky, looking up into his older brother’s green eyes sighed. He realized there was going to be nothing he would be able to do that would get him out of this. He decided he had better cooperate at the moment. 

Little Joe, seeing his little brother relent took him on over to the chicken coop. He had Sparky open the coop and taught him how to latch it so the chickens couldn’t get out. “Sparky, if the chickens get out, you’ll have to gather them up and get them back inside and that isn’t always easy, so it’s best to be careful and not let them get out in the first place.” The older boy warned. 

The child looked at his brother, but said nothing. Little Joe introduced him one by one to the hens that were laying and showed him how to get the eggs out from under them without getting pecked. Then he also showed him how to tell the good eggs from the bad ones by how much they weighed in his hand when he picked them up. He made Sparky collect the eggs and place them into the basket and then carry the basket to Hop Sing. 

Little Joe thought the exercise didn’t seem to go so bad. The little boy had done what he told him to do and Hop Sing got his eggs. 

After breakfast Adam gave both Little Joe and Sparky school lessons to complete as they weren’t able to get to school and the morning went pretty well. 

After lunch the youngster went into the great room and the Grandfather clock caught his eye. He went over to it and watched the pendulum swing back and forth. He got a dining room chair, dragging it over to the clock crawled up onto it and standing on it, tried to figure out how to get the clock face open. He had seen his Papa open it a time or two and kept poking and prodding around the edges with his little fingers. He tried to pull on the face and almost tipped the clock on top of himself. 

Hoss walking into the room saw his little brother pulling on the clock and as it began to tip forward toward the child, the older boy quickly caught hold of it and straightened it. He then took hold of Sparky and picking him up off the chair plopped him onto the sofa. “Little boy ya stay there and don’t ya move!” Hoss said sternly, frowning at his little brother.

The little mite looked so shocked that his older brother almost laughed, but kept his stern face in place. 

“Now just what do ya think ya was doin’?”

“I wanted to open the face of the clock to see how it worked Hoss!” The little one replied, his face a picture of innocence.

“Ya leave the clock alone! Ya almost toppled it on top of ya! Ya could have been crushed!” Hoss scolded severely. 

Ben walked in about then and seeing Hoss looking very crossly at his little brother wondered what was happening. “What’s going on here?”

“Pa,” the older boy said turning to his father, “The little mite was standing on the chair, trying to open the clock face and almost pulled it on top of him!”

“Okay Hoss, I’ll take it from here.” Ben frowned at the littlest Cartwright. 

Hoss took the dining chair and put it back where it belonged. 

“Nicholas, what were you doing?” Ben asked sternly.

“Looking at the clock. I wanted to see its face and open it the way I’ve seen you do.” The little boy answered. 

“You are not to touch the clock. It’s only opened when it needs to be wound or the hands of the clock need to be adjusted. It’s not a toy and you are not to play with it do you understand?” The elder Cartwright scolded sternly. 

“I suppose so.” Sparky answered, not looking at his father. 

Ben walked over to his child, picked him up and looked directly into his large grey eyes. “Nicholas Brett Gibson Cartwright, do you understand you are not to play with the grandfather clock?” He asked again even more sternly.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky answered respectfully this time.

“Very good.” Ben gave him a sharp swat on his backside and set him down. 

The littlest Cartwright gave his Papa a dark look and rubbed the stinging spot on his behind. Then he turned around and kicked the oak table in frustration. 

Ben picked him up, administered another sharp swat to his bottom and stood him in the corner. “For that little display of temper young man, you can stand in the corner.” The boy’s Papa told him. 

Sparky just stood there then for as long as his father wanted him to, not fidgeting or anything.   
When Ben let him out of the corner he went back to playing with his toys. 

Sparky played roughly. He toppled blocks, threw his tin soldiers around, then picked up everything and threw it all in his toy box slamming the lid down hard. 

Ben looked up from the books he was working on. He quirked an eyebrow at the littlest Cartwright. “What’s wrong baby?”

Sparky looked up at his father. “Papa, I want to go outside and play.”

“I’m sorry Sweet Pea, it’s too cold and the snow is too deep for you to go outside.” Ben informed his child. 

“Adam, Hoss and little Joe can go outside, why can’t I?” The little boy questioned defiantly. 

Ben sighed again. “I told you, it’s not safe for you because of the snow.”

“I don’t care! I want to go outside! I’m tired of staying inside!” The little one whined. 

Ben glanced outside and knew there wasn’t any way the little boy could go out. The snow was quite deep and even they had to plough through in order to reach the barn. “Why don’t you read a book Sparky?” The little boy’s father suggested. 

“I don’t want to. I’ve read them all and now they’re boring.” The youngster stated angrily. 

“Why don’t you ask Adam to give you some more school work then.?” Ben suggested, knowing already the reaction he would get from this suggestion. 

“Uh uh, I don’t want to do school work.” The child said, casting a dark look at his Papa. 

“Well, how about taking a nap?” The child’s father suggested. 

“No!” Sparky gave his father an even darker look at that suggestion. 

Ben almost laughed because he again knew before he even said it what his son’s reaction   
to that was going to be. 

“Why don’t you see if Hop Sing has something for you to do?” He suggested. 

“No! Why are you trying to make me do some kind of work or do things you already know I don’t like to and don’t want to do?” The Littlest Cartwright demanded, stomping his foot. 

Ben smiled at this. “Because son, I want you to think of something constructive you would like to do to entertain yourself.”

“Good, then I’m going outside.” The little mite headed for the pegs where his coat was hanging and began to tug on the garment, to make it come down. Getting frustrated he almost tore it as he yanked on his coat hard. 

Ben got up, picked up the child and plopped him on the sofa. “You sit there little boy until I tell you you may get up! You will not be going outside. The next place you will find yourself going will be to your room.” He stood there eyeing the child, his arms crossed in front of him over his chest.

Sparky sat there, but kicked his feet against the sofa. 

Ben didn’t pay attention to this. He just wanted him to sit there until he gave him permission to get up. Once Sparky had sat there for ten minutes he let him get up. The youngster then flung himself face down on the sofa and pouted. Ben returned to his desk ignoring him. 

After a while the little boy got up from the sofa and slipped into Hop Sing’s kitchen. Hop Sing noticed the littlest Cartwright, but didn’t say anything to him. He just went about his business of preparing their supper. When Sparky tried to slip out the door He found himself caught by Hop Sing and receiving six hard smacks of the wooden spoon on his backside. Sparky howled. “Little boy no sneak off and wander off without telling family!” The little Chinese cook stated emphatically. 

Sparky rubbed his stinging bottom tears coming down his face now from the painful swats. 

“Little boy go back inside with Papa!” Hop Sing scolded. 

Sparky went out of the kitchen and back into the great room. 

Ben looked up. “You got into trouble in the kitchen?”

“Yes Papa.” The child said forlornly. 

Ben got up from his desk and went over picking up his son. Placing him in his lap, holding him, he asked, Sweet Pea, what’s the problem?”

The child squirmed a bit in his father’s lap. “Papa, I’m bored. I want something fun to do! Hoss, Adam and Little Joe are all able to do anything they want! They can go out in the snow, they can ride their horses, they can do all kind of interesting things and I have to stay inside and be bored!” The little mite pouted. 

Ben listened to his son and understood his frustration, but wasn’t sure just what to do about it. When Little Joe was Sparky’s age he had his mother and Hoss to play with him quite a bit. Little Joe was thirteen now and had his own friends to be with and still did some things with Hoss, but wasn’t as willing to play with Sparky as Hoss had been to play with Little Joe, especially after Marie had died and Adam had left for college. He began to understand that part of the child’s anger was because of being lonely. He needed more children his own age to play with or interact with. He couldn’t go to school right now because of the snow. It also made it hard for other children to come to play with his son too. Ben wasn’t sure he could do much about it. They would have to weather it out. He thought that maybe he could distract the little one with some other activities, even though they were a bit limited at the moment as what they could do. 

In a while the other boys came in from the barn chores and Hoss and Little Joe sat down and played checkers together and Adam picked up a new book he hadn’t read yet and still the littlest Cartwright had no one to interact with. The little mite went over to Hoss and Little Joe and watched them for a moment or two, then he flicked the edge of the checker board sending all the checkers flying. 

“Nicky!” Hoss and little Joe cried. 

Sparky just looked at them smugly.

Little Joe got upset. “You little brat! You did that on purpose! Pa! He ruined our checker game on purpose!” The boy cried. 

Ben grit his teeth and walked over to his recalcitrant son. “Nicholas Brett, you pick up all those checkers young man!”

“No! They can pick them up! If they don’t want to play with me then they can take the consequences!” The little one cried indignantly.

Ben was a bit shocked by his son’s attitude. He picked up the little boy and sat in his favorite chair, placing the child in his lap. “Young man, you will apologize to your brothers immediately!” The elder Cartwright commanded. 

“No! I won’t and you can’t make me!” Sparky replied defiantly. 

“Don’t use that tone of voice with me mister and don’t you tell me no again do you understand?” Ben lectured sternly. 

“No! I don’t understand! I don’t understand why no one wants to play with me, why I can’t go outside to play! Why everyone ignores me!” The child broke down into a torrent of tears. 

Ben was still at a loss. “Baby, no one is ignoring you.”

“Hoss and Joe are always playing that stupid game, Adam is always reading a book and you are always at your desk! When does anyone pay attention to me and play with me?” Sparky cried heartbrokenly. 

Ben just cuddled the distraught child in his lap. “Sweet Pea, I’ll tell you what. If you go ahead and pick up all the checkers and apologize to your brothers, I’ll play with you for a while okay?”

“No!” the youngster pouted again. 

Ben picking up his little son walked over and stood him in the corner. “I warned you against telling me no little one. Now you can stand in the corner.” Ben told his child.

Sparky thought about protesting, but glancing up and seeing the stern look on his father’s face knew better. 

When the child had done his corner time his father called him to him.   
“Sparky, come here.” 

The youngster left his corner and came to his Papa. 

The boy was pulled onto his Papa’s lap. Ben gained eye contact with his child. “I forgive you your being disrespectful. Now, I want you to apologize to your brothers, pick up the checkers and when your done with that I’ll take you to the barn and you can visit Blaze for a while okay?” Ben told the little boy. 

Sparky said in a grudging way, “Okay.” He got down from Ben’s lap and picked up all the checkers and returned them to Hoss and Little Joe. “I’m sorry Hoss, Little Joe for ruining your checker game.” The little mite apologized. 

“You’re forgiven Sparky, just don’t do that again okay?” Little Joe said, with Hoss nodding agreement. 

“Okay.” The little boy said contritely. 

Ben got the child’s coat and hat, helping the small boy into them, picked him up and carried him through the deep snow on his shoulders down to the barn. Once inside he set the youngster down and said, “Sparky, you may go inside the stall and talk to Blaze, but stay away from the other horses and the machinery okay?”

“Okay Papa.” The child promised. Sparky entered Blazes stall, the pony nuzzled the little boy and Sparky petted his nose, trying to hug him. The little pony nudged him hard and Sparky lost his balance, sitting down hard in the straw. “Blaze! You knocked me down!”  
The little one cried. Sparky got up again and petted his pony some more and Ben glancing over into the stall saw the child was safe and let him continue to pet his pony. 

When they came back from the barn Sparky seemed a bit better and the rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough. 

 

Chapter 8

 

The next morning Little Joe helped his little brother with his coat and went with him out to the chicken coop. He let the youngster go in and when a few chickens began to leave the coop because he hadn’t latched the door, Little Joe just said, “Sparky, some of the chickens just got out of the coop. Yu had better get them back in.”

The little boy turned and seeing the chickens scooting out of the coop went back to catch them. When he had caught them, and shooed them back in, he latched the door to the coop and gave Little Joe a dark look. 

“Don’t look at me that way Sparky, you were the one who didn’t latch the coop, I warned you that if you didn’t pay attention to that you would find that the chickens would get out.”

The youngster then started to gather the eggs. When he tried to feel under the hens for their eggs they tried to peck at him. The little mite turned around and smacked one of the chickens. “Stupid chicken! Don’t you peck at me!” The chicken squawked and flapped around and Little Joe kept his council. He didn’t like that the littlest Cartwright was treating the chickens that way, but the little boy had to learn for himself that that was not the way to get cooperation. 

Then Sparky put the eggs in the basket. He didn’t pay attention as to which were good and which were bad. When he had collected them all and brought the basket in to Hop Sing, the little Chinese man picking up a few of the eggs, said, “Little boy, not check eggs!”

“I gathered them, what more do you want?” The little one said insolently. 

“Little boy supposed to check eggs to see if good eggs!”

Sparky snatched the basket from Hop Sing and quickly taking each egg, smashed it on the floor. “There’s a good one, there’s a bad one!” He shouted as he smashed the whole basket full of eggs. 

Hop Sing was shocked. When the child finished smashing all the eggs he threw the basket on the floor and tried to run out the door, but not before the little Chinese man snagged him under the arms and carried him kicking and screaming to the corner of the kitchen. “Little boy stand in corner for smashing all Hop Sings eggs!”

Sparky began to twist and kick to get free and Hop Sing securing the child, sat on a kitchen chair, wrestled the boy over his knees, pulled down his pants and applied a half dozen stinging smacks to his bare little backside with his wooden spoon. Pulling his pants back up, he took the howling boy and stood him back in the corner. “Little boy stand there, if he move out of corner Hop Sing smack bottom some more with wooden spoon!”

Ben hearing all the commotion in the kitchen ran in to see Hop Sing standing Sparky in the corner. He saw the egg mess and understood what had happened. When Hop Sing started to clean up the mess Ben said, “No Hop Sing. Nicholas made this mess, he can clean it up!”

When Hop Sing let the little one out of the corner he then made him clean up the mess under his and Ben’s supervision. 

When Sparky had cleaned up his mess Ben picked up the child and brought him to his room.

“Nicholas, I do not want to see that kind of tantrum again do you understand?”

“Yes Papa. Hop Sing spanked me with the wooden spoon Papa!” Sparky wailed.

“Yes, he did and you deserved every swat little boy. If you ever deliberately do what you did today again I’ll be taking the hairbrush and getting directly to the seat of the problem. Is that clear?” Ben demanded. 

“Yes Papa.” Sparky replied tears still running down his little face. 

“I won’t care if Hop Sing has spanked you with his wooden spoon either!” Ben told the little mite.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky again replied tears still coming down his little face. “Papa, Hop Sing spanked me on my bare bottom and it still hurts!”

“Well, maybe now you’ll think twice before you do the things you just did down in the kitchen little boy.” Ben scolded.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky said sadly. 

Ben gathered his baby son into his arms and comforted him. “Little one, you’re forgiven for all this now. I love you baby and don’t like to see you behaving so naughty.” Ben continued to rub the child’s back. 

“Yes Papa.” Then the youngster laid on his bed and stayed in his room until lunchtime. 

For the first time since coming to live with the Cartwrights Sparky had gone without any breakfast. Ben hadn’t realized this until later in the morning, but when he checked on his son he was sleeping soundly. Ben felt badly about everything being in such an upset that his child had not eaten at all. That was not something that Ben ever wanted to happen to the littlest Cartwright again. 

When the youngster woke it was time to eat. Ben told his son, “Sparky, you may come down for lunch now.” 

“Yes Papa.” The little boy was still upset. He didn’t eat much and his Papa was afraid to force him to eat too much more because the child might get sick. By supper time   
Sparky was still not his usual self. Ben had come in from doing the barn chores for the evening when he found his child lying face down on the sofa crying. He picked up the little mite and sitting him in his lap asked, “What’s wrong baby?”

“Papa, my stomach hurts.” The child moaned. 

“Hmm… you don’t have a fever or anything.” He said feeling Sparky’s forehead.

Tears began to fall again. 

Ben held the child close to him and knew something was making the little boy very upset. “Sweet Pea, what’s the matter?” He asked, rubbing the child’s back. 

Sparky looked up at his father. “Papa, I was very bad this morning.”

“Baby, you’ve been forgiven for that.” Ben told him. 

“No Papa. I-I…” the littlest Cartwright dissolved into tears again.

“You what Sweet Pea?” The elder Cartwright asked encouragingly.

“Papa, I was mean to the chickens this morning!” The little boy wailed loudly, crying very hard now.

Ben was mystified. “Baby, how were you mean to the chickens?”

“Papa, I smacked the chickens who pecked at me real hard and called them stupid chicken!” Sparky dissolved into a puddle of tears again. 

The man now understood what had been bothering the little tyke. “Son, you’re right. You weren’t very nice to the chickens. Why did you do that to them?”

The youngster shook his head in the negative and cried hard again. 

Ben knew instinctively there was a bit more to this than anyone of them had even dreamed.   
He cuddled the child in his lap. Baby, tell Papa all about it. Tell Papa why you smacked the chickens.”

Sparky finally calmed down enough to talk to his father. “Papa, I just couldn’t help it. It was like I was at the mine again and all the kids were there picking at me and hurting me and… and…” The little boy again dissolved into tears. Ben just held him snugly in his arms. 

“Papa! I didn’t mean to hurt the chickens! I’m sorry Papa!” Sparky wailed sorrowfully dissolving into another torrent of tears. 

Ben rocked the child in his lap saying comforting things to the little mite. He had never dreamed that something so simple like collecting eggs from the chickens would trigger something so complicated. 

“It’s okay baby, Papa understands that you didn’t mean to hurt the chickens.” He rubbed Sparky’s back and held him until he stopped crying. 

“Papa?” the youngster asked hesitantly.

“Yes, Sweet Pea?” Ben asked, looking down at the red splotched face.

“Are you going to spank me for hitting the chickens?” His son asked worriedly.

“Do you think I should?” His father asked him.

“Yes Papa.” The little boy said in a small voice.

“How many chickens did you hit this morning son?”

“Umm… I think four of them.” Sparky answered.

“Okay.” Ben replied. Then he flipped the child over and gave him four swats that had a little bit of a sting, but not real hard, on his bottom.

“Ow! Papa!” The littlest Cartwright cried.

“Now, I gave you one swat for each chicken. Are you going to hit the chickens anymore little boy?” Ben asked.

“No Papa, I’ll be real good to the chickens.” The little boy sniffed.

“Very good Sparky. Son, you are a very good boy for telling Papa what you did to the chickens and telling Papa why you did that. You won’t do anything like what you did this morning again will you?”

“No Papa.” The littlest Cartwright said hiding his face in Ben’s chest and cuddling up in his arms.

“Very good.” He held his baby son in his arms reveling in the feel of his little body snuggled up tight to him and feeling the little boy’s heart beat and knowing the child had a good heart if he got this upset about smacking a few chickens. Ben himself had smacked a chicken or two in his time and had never been unduly bothered by it. He also realized that it had been more than just that for his son though, it had been the triggering of the trauma he had experienced while living at the Green Backs Mine. He knew so little about that time of the boy’s life and Sparky himself never talked of that time unless it was brought out by something like this. Ben wondered if he should stop the youngster from collecting the eggs if it brought back such bad memories to his son. 

<<<<>>>>

When they gathered for the evening meal the little boy didn’t eat much again, but Ben didn’t push the issue knowing just how upset the child had been all day. When he was finished with his supper Ben allowed Sparky to play for a time before getting him ready for bed.

The next morning Ben went with his little son to supervise him with Little Joe and the chickens. He wanted to be sure it wouldn’t cause the child more harm than good. 

Sparky went into the coop, being certain to latch the gate, then began to approach the chickens. One of the chickens he had hit the day before snaked out its neck and pecked hard at the little boy and Sparky jumped quickly back “Ouch!” Tears came to the child’s eyes. “The youngster approached the hen again and talked to it softly. He cautiously stroked it and the hen seemed to accept the boy’s touch. 

As Sparky gathered the eggs he made certain he only placed the heavy eggs in the basket and the ones that didn’t feel heavy enough he handed to Little Joe for disposal. Once Sparky had gathered the eggs he brought the basket to Hop Sing being careful to not drop it. 

“Hop Sing, I have the eggs for you.” Sparky placed the basket on the counter. 

Hop Sing picked up a few of the eggs and nodded. “Little boy collect eggs correctly today. All good eggs. No bad ones.”

“Thank you, Hop Sing.”

Ben was pleased with his son’s progress and each morning Sparky then collected the eggs and Little Joe didn’t have to go with him anymore.

Even though the child had originally balked at doing this chore and had had to overcome some trauma he had experienced as a result of the egg collecting he dutifully performed this task. Ben knew it had helped a little bit because now the little boy had something he was responsible for and helped him feel he was a little more grown up and a member of the family. 

 

Chapter 9

 

One-day Adam had to go into town to get supplies. He was going to have to use the sleigh because of the snow. 

Sparky seeing his brother getting ready went up to him. “I want to go!”

“Have you collected the eggs yet?”

“Yes, I did that a long time ago, you should know that because we did have eggs to eat at breakfast.” The child gave his oldest brother a hurt look. 

The older boy seeing the look on his little brother’s face relented and said, “Well, you’ll have to ask Pa first if you can come with me.”

“Can’t you ask him for me?” The little boy asked scuffing the toe of his shoe in the snow. 

“No. You’re getting older and I think you can ask for yourself now.” Adam smiled at his little brother.

“Okay.” Sparky ran off into the house to find his Papa.

“Papa!” the youngster found Ben putting wood on the fire in the great room.

“Yes, little one?”

“May I go with Adam to town in the sleigh?”

Ben thought about this for a moment. The littlest Cartwright hadn’t been out from the house very much since before Christmas. If his son was willing to take him it might be helpful.

“If Adam is willing to look after you you may go. You’ll have to ask him though.”

Sparky sighed. This asking permission sure got to be frustrating. He went to go back outside when his oldest brother came back in. The child rushed up to him.   
“Adam, Papa said I may go with you if you were willing to watch over me and that I had to ask you if you were willing to watch me if you took me to town with you.”

The young man pretended to think about this really hard. He watched the expression on his brother’s face and when he saw that the little boy was thinking he was going to say no, he picked up the little one and grinning said, “Okay, I’ll take you with me and I’ll watch over you, but you have to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?” Sparky asked anxiously.

“That you won’t wander off anywhere without telling me where you are going.”

The little boy blushed a little then. “I promise, not to go anywhere without asking you or telling you first.”

“Okay, then you may come with me.”

“Whee! Thank you, Adam!” Sparky was all excited. 

Being this was Saturday there had been no school work. The older boy gathering up his list from Pa and Hop Sing picked up the child and plopped him on the driver’s seat of the sleigh. Adam climbed up there with him, wrapping a blanket around them and had hot bricks so they could keep their feet warm as it was very cold. As the young man arranged things for their comfort he said, “Sparky, before we even set out I am not going to allow you to drive the team and I don’t want you asking or trying to snatch the reins or anything like that. There will be no arguments from you about this or I will take you down right now and leave you home. What do you say little brother?”

“I’ll be good. I won’t do anything like that I promise.” The little boy said, giving his brother an angelic look. 

“Okay, but I’m warning you little boy, pull anything like you did the last time you rode with me in the sleigh and I won’t hesitate to warm your behind and then use it to warm my feet the rest of the way to town or back home depending when I have to do it. Do you understand?”

Sparky knew his brother wouldn’t really use his behind as a foot warmer, but did know he would warm his behind for him if he didn’t behave. “Yes Adam.”

“Okay, then, let’s go.” Adam clucked to the team and they set out for town. 

The ride to town was uneventful. The little boy stayed cuddled up in the blanket relaxing at his brother’s side, watching the beautiful scenery and smelling the pungent Ponderosa pines as they rode into town. The scent reminded him of Hop Sing baking as the scent of vanilla filled the air. 

Once they got there Adam pulled up in front of the feed store first. “Sparky, I need to stop here first. You may come inside with me and keep warm.”

“Okay.” The child climbed out of his little blanket cocoon and the older boy picked him up and put him on the snow-covered ground. Then, taking his hand walked with him into the store. Once inside Adam admonished his little brother, “Stay out of things, don’t touch anything and stay where I can see you.”

Sparky wandered around the store looking at things while his older brother conducted his business.   
Once he was finished he said, “Little one, you stay inside here while I load up the sleigh.” He led the child over to a sack of feed. “You sit here and don’t move. When I’m done loading we’ll go over to the general store. Hop Sing needs some things there okay?”

“Okay.” The youngster watched as his brother piled up the sleigh with the sacks. 

Once the young man had completed this task he came back in and retrieved his brother.

“Sparky, you were very good to stay where I put you and to follow my directions.” Adam hugged the little mite and patted his bottom. Then, taking him by the hand, walked over to the general store. 

Jim Hicks and his wife Sarah were there and were delighted to see the Littlest Cartwright in town with his brother.

“Hello there Sparky. I have some new candy I need someone to try out for me. Would you mind?”

The little boy looked at his oldest brother. “May I try out some candy for Mr. Hicks?”

The young man smiled. Sure Sparky, but not too many pieces, we have to eat lunch before we leave to go home.”

“Okay.” The little boy turned to the store owner. “Mr. Hicks, Adam says I may help you out by trying out some of the new candy, but not too many pieces because we have to eat lunch.”

Jim smiled at the youngster. He was so adorable, being bright, so full of energy and was so respectful. He was a great child all around. He never minded the little one coming into his store. The man also knew the youngster’s father or brothers always watched him to make sure he didn’t get into mischief while he was there, which was more than a lot of parents did with their children.

After handing Sparky a few pieces of candy he filled Adam’s order. The little mite took one of the fruit flavored candy sticks Mr. Hicks had handed him and offering it to his brother asked, “Adam, would you break off a piece and see if you like it too?”

The older boy smiled down at his generous little brother. He broke off a small piece handing the larger piece back to the little one. “Mmm… this is good Sweet Pea, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Sparky chewed on the remainder of the candy. 

Mr. Hicks seeing the child sharing with his brother smiled broadly and filling a small bag with a variety of candy slipped it in among the Cartwright order. He did not tally it in with their purchases. It was a gift because the little boy was so caring and generous.

Adam, finished with his purchases loaded up everything. When he was through loading he took Sparky by the hand. 

They were about to head over to the International House for lunch when Jeff and Rick Bonner stopped them. “Well, what do ya know? It’s the Cartwright bookends!” Rick laughed at his own joke.

Adam looked exasperated. “What drags you two coyotes into town?”

“Now Adam, is that any way to talk to two of your best buddies?” Jeff Bonner said in a sickly-sweet voice.

The littlest Cartwright clung closely to his brother. He wasn’t sure he liked these two. They reminded him of some of the rougher miners from the Green Backs mine and when he was at the Golden Nugget with his father this past summer.

Adam sensed the little boy’s nervousness and asked, “Now, just what do the two of you want?”

“We just want ya ta join us in having a beer.”

“I can’t. I have my little brother with me.”

“Bring him along. Our Pa had us along with him when we were no older than that little mite ya got there.”

Adam knew Pa would kill him if he ever found out he had brought his little brother into a saloon, but he did want to get a beer. He didn’t dare leave the child alone outside though while he went inside because he couldn’t trust Sparky not to get distracted by something and wander away getting into some kind of mischief. 

He bent down and picked his brother up and looked him in the eye. “Nicky, we’re brothers, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“Do you know that brothers don’t tell on brothers? That sometimes they keep secrets from Pa?”

“Yes Adam, Hoss and Little Joe told me that.”

“I know you’re real good about keeping secrets aren’t you Sweet Pea?”

“Uh huh. I can keep secrets real good.”

“Well, I want you to keep a secret for me then. We are going to go over there to the Bucket of Blood Saloon with my friends here. I’m going to drink a beer with them. You and I are going to eat lunch there and then we’re going home okay?”

“Yes. I wanted to see a saloon anyway and Papa wouldn’t let me in San Francisco.”

The older boy felt his conscience prick him then. He had ended up getting swatted pretty good by Pa for his saloon escapade in San Francisco, he was not eager for a repeat performance. This time, it might be an actual tanning. 

“Well then, this will be just between us okay?” Adam gave his little brother an imploring look.

“Yes.” Sparky smiled at his older brother. 

Adam along with the Bonner brothers strode over to the Bucket of blood with the youngster. As they walked through the doors the saloon keeper’s eyes went wide when he not only saw Adam Cartwright there with the Bonner brothers, but holding the Littlest Cartwright in his arms. 

“Cartwright, we don’t allow any kids in here!”

“Aw come on Harry, you know damn good and well our Pa used ta bring us in here when we were no older than this little guy here. It ain’t gonna hurt him none.”

Harry backed down and shook his head. “I’m not going to be responsible for what happens if Ben Cartwright finds out about this.”

Jeff Bonner shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Harry, give us all a round of beer!”

They sat at a corner table near the back where it was pretty dark, drinking after Harry brought over the beer. 

“Adam, I’m hungry.” Sparky piped up after looking all around the dingy saloon. 

“I’m sorry Sweet Pea. Let me see if I can get a sandwich and a glass of milk for you.” He went up to the bar.

“Harry, can you make me a sandwich for my little brother and find a glass of milk?”

Harry looked at him sourly. “I told you Cartwright, this ain’t no place for a kid. I’ll go in the kitchen and see what I can find.”

Harry came back with a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. “This is the best I can do for ya.”

“Thanks Harry.” Adam headed back to their table with the food for his little brother.

 

Chapter 10 

 

Rick Bonner handed Sparky his glass of beer. Here buddy try a taste of this. 

The little boy took a gulp of the brew. He wrinkled his nose. “It tastes funny.”

“Oh, it won’t be too bad once ya get used ta it, try another.”

The youngster tried another gulp and found Rick was right, it didn’t taste as bad now and drank more. 

“What do you think of the place where your daddy was killed kid?” Jeff Bonner asked.

Sparky’s eyes got round and wide. “Is this where my daddy died?”

“Yep.” Jeff gave the child a little more beer.

<<<<>>>>

While Adam was at the bar Rick and Jeff were feeding Sparky beer. When he returned they stopped and looked innocent. 

The little one was feeling a bit funny. When Adam brought him his food the little mite ate it without complaint.

Rick accidentally spilled the rest of his beer when he knocked it with his arm, “Hell and damnation!” He jumped up and a bar maid hurried over with a cloth to clean up the spill. 

After a little while Adam said, “Well gentlemen, I guess I have to get going. I got to get those supplies back to the ranch and the little one here looks more than ready for a nap. 

Jeff grinned then, “Well, he should be. He drank almost a full glass of beer!” Jeff laughed. 

The oldest Cartwright brother was shocked. “When…?”

“While you were up there getting the little tyke something to eat.” Rick grinned.

“Are the two of you crazy feeding beer to a child like that?” Adam fumed.

“Settle down Cartwright. It didn’t’ hurt him none, just made him a bit sleepy and easier to handle that’s all.”

The young man got right in Jeff Bonner’s face. “If you *ever* do anything like this again to my little brother I’ll wipe the floor up with you Bonner.”

“Better be careful Cartwright.” Jeff said, “Ya don’t want to end up dead on the floor like the little tyke’s daddy did do ya?”

Adam in a fury smashed his fist into Jeff Bonners face, knocking him to the floor, picked up Sparky and strode angrily out of the saloon. 

Roy Coffee caught sight of Adam leaving the Bucket of Blood with the Littlest Cartwright in his arms, climbing up onto the sleigh. He cocked an eyebrow in surprise. Ben would never condone any of his older boys bringing the Littlest Cartwright into a saloon for any but the direst of circumstances, such as fire, flood, earthquake, something that would be equated to a disaster of Biblical proportions. Then he saw the Bonner brothers stumbling out and Jeff Bonner rubbing his jaw. He wondered just what went on in there, but went on his way as there didn’t seem to be any lasting problem. 

Adam was furious. He was angry at himself for being so stupid as to fall into temptation and especially with those two. He would have thought he would have learned his lesson long ago about hanging around with the Bonner brothers. They always caused him trouble. Now he had no way of explaining to Pa how his baby brother got hold of beer without telling him the whole truth. Maybe he wouldn’t notice and he just wouldn’t say anything unless Pa did.

About halfway home Sparky said to his brother in a small voice, “Adam?”

“Yes, Sweet Pea?”

“I think I’m going to be sick to my stomach.”

Adam brought the horses to an immediate halt, snatching up the little mite and the child promptly threw up his lunch. He carried him to a nearby stream and wiped his face with his bandana which he dipped into a hole in the stream where it wasn’t frozen over and made Sparky wash out his mouth and drink a little of the cold water. After a bit the little boy looked quite a bit better.

“Are you okay Sweet Pea?” Adam asked cuddling him in his arms. 

“Yes, I feel better now.”

Adam carried him back up to the sleigh and by the time they arrived the child was sound asleep. 

Ben came out and seeing his baby son asleep asked, “Was he any trouble Adam?”

“No Pa, he was good as gold. Let me take him upstairs and tuck him in and I’ll come back and unload.”

“I can take him.” Ben moved to pick up the boy, but his son moved in front of him and gathered the child up and carried him away. Ben was a bit surprised, but said nothing. 

Adam carried Sparky to his room and stripped him of his clothes and into a night shirt for a nap. He didn’t seem to have any fever or anything and he didn’t smell much like beer either for which he was very relieved. 

The young man went back downstairs and unloaded the sleigh, not thinking anything more about their escapade that afternoon. 

Sparky woke from his nap. He had an awful taste in his mouth. He went over and sticking a little finger after moistening it with his tongue into the tooth powder, rubbed some on his teeth. He had seen Little Joe do this sometimes. The taste made him gag though and he ended up throwing up in his wash basin. 

Ben walking up to his son’s room heard the little boy gagging as he got to the door. He opened it and saw the little mite vomiting. He helped him and asked him if he were all right. 

“Papa, my head hurts.” 

Ben put a hand on his head, but the child had no fever. He poured some water from a drinking pitcher into a glass and gave it to the little boy holding the basin under his chin. “Swish out your mouth baby and spit it into the basin.”

Sparky did as he was told and Ben set the basin aside. 

“Feel better?”

“Yes Papa.”

“What were you doing Sparky?”

“I had a bad taste in my mouth when I woke up and took some tooth powder to get the taste out. It made me feel sick and I threw up.”

“Well, you rest now. Do you have a stomach ache?”

“No Papa.”

“Okay. You just stay here and relax. I’ll take care of this basin and be right back.”

As Ben came down with the basin in his hand he saw Adam reading in the living room.   
“Adam, did Sparky eat too much at lunch today, or eat too much candy or anything?”

“No Pa. Why?”

“He said he woke up with a bad taste in his mouth. When he tried to get rid of it by using tooth powder he threw up. He says his head hurts, but he doesn’t have a fever or anything.”

Adam tried to hide his guilt. The poor little thing was sick from drinking beer and had a hangover. Adam felt his anger toward the Bonner brothers burn.   
“I’m not sure Pa. He was all right in town.” Which Adam knew was not a lie. Sparky had gotten sick on the way home, not while they were in town.

“Well, I’ll just keep him in bed, we’ll give him some broth and I’m sure he’ll be as good as new.”

Adam felt guilty. He went up to his brother’s room and sat with him, read him stories and kept him entertained while he had to stay in bed. 

That night Sparky had a bad nightmare. “Daddy! Daddy! No! Please don’t die!” The little boy shouted.   
Adam and Ben reached the child’s room and Ben gathered the boy up in his arms and gently woke him. “Shh… Shh… It’s okay baby, Papa’s here.”  
Ben rocked the child as he cried heartbrokenly. “Papa, my Daddy’s dead at the Bucket of Blood!”

“It’s okay baby. Your Daddy’s safe. He’s buried up at the lake remember?”

“Yes. Papa. He was killed at the Bucket of Blood Papa.”

“Yes, he was baby, but that’s all over now.”

Adam listened to his little brother and thought he was going to be sick. He cursed himself for leaving the little one in the hands of those two. It was the most stupid thing he had ever done. What the hell did the Bonner brothers say to his baby brother while he was gone getting him something to eat? They must have said something about Lyle having been killed there. He was going to make them pay when he got his hands on them. 

Ben got Sparky settled down finally and decided to take the child back to his own room now that he was again sleeping. 

“He’s okay now Adam. I’m bringing him back to bed with me for the rest of the night.

“Good idea Pa.”

Adam went to bed then and Ben took the littlest Cartwright with him.

 

Chapter 11

 

The next morning Sparky was his usual self, not seeming the worse for wear, for which Adam was thankful. 

“Papa, are we going to go to church this morning?” the child asked stretching in his Papa’s bed. 

“Are you feeling okay?” He eyed his son critically.

“Yes Papa. My head doesn’t hurt and I’m okay!” The little one sat up and his father picked him up and checked him for fever and such. 

“Good.” Ben put the little mite down. “Go to your room and as soon as Papa finishes shaving I’ll come help you to wash up.”

” Yes, Papa.” Sparky scooted to his room all full of energy and no worse for his trials the day before. 

When Ben finished getting ready he helped his little son and they headed downstairs for breakfast. 

Little Joe had collected the eggs for his little brother and Hoss and Adam had finished the morning barn chores before their father came down so he could help the littlest Cartwright. Ben was pleased by all his son’s efforts and smiled broadly at them all.

At the breakfast table they began to eat and passed the dishes around. Sparky went to pick up a sausage off the platter and accidentally knocked over his glass of milk with his elbow. “Hell and damnation!” The little boy exclaimed. 

The room was deadly quiet except for the dripping of the milk onto the floor. Adam went white as a sheet. Hoss stopped his fork in midair staring at the littlest Cartwright. Little Joe had a horrified look on his face and had stopped in mid motion going to stab another pancake onto his plate and Ben stopped with his coffee cup in midair to stare at his little son.

Then all hell broke loose. “Hop Sing! Please bring a rag to mop up some spilled milk!” Ben bellowed. Then he jumped out of his seat and quickly walked over to Sparky and plucked him up out of his seat ready to apply several stinging swats to his behind. 

Adam jumped up at the same time and stayed his father’s hand in mid motion. “NO Pa! Don’t!”

Hoss and Little Joe both said, “Sparky! You shouldn’t say that!” in unison.

Sparky began to cry hard and Hop Sing came in on this chaos. He quickly went to the table and mopped the spilled milk up from both the table and the floor. He wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but he surmised it had been something unexpected and very inappropriate from the littlest Cartwright.

Ben glanced up at Adam who was still holding his wrist and the young man released it. The elder Cartwright righted the little boy, tears still running down his little face and looking from his oldest son to his youngest, suspected there was something that was going on here he didn’t know about. Picking up Sparky and turning to Adam Ben said, “I think we need to talk.” He led the way to the study area and his eldest son sat on the chair next to the desk while Ben held his baby son in his lap. The child now had his fingers in his mouth and his father realized the boy was feeling very insecure. 

Ben, wiping the tears from his little boy’s face, cuddled his small child and said, “Sparky, son, take your fingers out of your mouth.”

The youngster complied and then Ben sat back and eyeing his oldest child asked, “Adam, is there something you would like to tell me about your trip into town yesterday?”

The young man looked away from his father. 

Ben looked at Sparky. Nicholas, what happened in town yesterday while you and your brother were there?”

The youngster looked at his father and then Adam and said, “Papa, brothers don’t tell on brothers.”

Adam put his face into his hands and groaned. He was done for now. Pa knew something had happened and he was going to have to tell him. His little brother telling Pa that had sealed his own fate. 

“You are right Sparky, but sometimes brothers have to tell on brothers if what they did put them in danger.”

The little boy kept his mouth shut. He was very good at keeping secrets and Ben knew he’d get no more from the child. “Sparky, you go back to the breakfast table. We aren’t done talking though, do you understand?”

“Yes Papa.” The youngster slid off his father’s lap and went back to join his other brothers.

When the little mite came back to the table, Hoss and Little Joe looked at him. Hoss asked, “Sparky, where did you hear what you said when you spilled your milk?”  
“Umm… I can’t tell Hoss. Brothers don’t tell on brothers.”

Hoss and Little Joe exchanged looks. They had a pretty good idea where Sparky would have heard something like that and both knew big brother was in deep trouble with Pa. 

<<<<>>>>

Ben looked at his oldest son. “Adam, would you like to tell me now everything that went on in town yesterday and please don’t leave anything out.”

Adam, even at twenty-two years old, was embarrassed at having to tell his father he had broken his trust, but also knew he had to tell the truth about everything now.   
“Well Pa, Sparky and I had just finished at the general store when the Bonner brothers came by. They started in on me and so I ended up going with them to the Bucket of Blood for a beer. They convinced me to take the little one with me.” He paused because he suddenly didn’t like the look his father was directing at him. 

Ben said nothing, just nodded, indicating his son should go on. 

“Well, Sparky was hungry and so I went up to the bar to get him something to eat. While I was up there the Bonner brothers fed the little mite beer. They said he drank almost a full glass.” Adam cringed when he saw the fury on his father’s face. It was a bit scary that he still hadn’t said anything or exploded. 

Ben just nodded again giving his son a hard look. 

“While I was there they must have said something to him about his dad being killed in the saloon. I don’t know, but I think that was why he had the nightmare. Anyway, when I got back to the table, I fed him a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. Rick had knocked over his beer and said what you heard Sparky say at the table before. He was only repeating what he heard Pa, I don’t think he knows it’s something he shouldn’t say. On the way home yesterday, he threw up on the trail and I helped him. Then he fell asleep. That’s why he had the bad taste in his mouth and a headache.” Adam hung his head. 

Ben said nothing. He was both astonished and disappointed that his oldest son could have done such a thing. 

“Adam, we’ll deal with this when we get back from church. I want to be sure your little brother has eaten enough and we need to go or we’ll be late.” Ben got up and left the desk and Adam too returned to the table. 

After Ben was certain the little one had eaten enough he pulled him into his lap while the other boys went out and got the sleigh ready. 

“Nicholas, Adam told me about what the two of you did in town yesterday, meeting with the Bonner brothers and all. I know everything. I don’t ever want you to take any kind of food or drink from someone you don’t know very well. It was the beer you drank that made you sick and gave you the headache. I also don’t ever want to hear you say ‘Hell and damnation’ again. It’s bad language and shouldn’t be said by adults no less by little boys.” Ben lectured. 

“Papa, why did Rick Bonner say it then?” The little one asked.

“Because he hasn’t been brought up to be respectful. He has no respect for himself, others or for his father.” The elder Cartwright responded. 

“Papa, will God punish him for saying that?” The youngster questioned.

“One day.” Ben replied. 

“Papa, will God punish me for saying it?” The little boy asked worriedly.

“No little one.” His father reassured him. 

“Why not?” The child asked.

“Because you have a Papa who cares enough to correct you when you do wrong things. When someone doesn’t have a Papa, who cares enough to correct his children’s wrongs then it’s left up to God to do it because he is everyone’s father.” Ben explained.

“Are you going to punish me for saying it Papa?” The little mite asked concerned.

“Not this time because you didn’t know it was a bad thing to say. I’ve scolded you for it, but if you do say it again I’ll spank you for it understand?” His Papa said sternly.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky cuddled into Ben’s arms and he felt himself calm greatly. This little one was so innocent and trusting. It was sad that this innocence didn’t last forever. 

Adam came in then. “Pa, the sleigh is ready.”

“Thank you, son.” Ben got up then and Sparky slipped off his Papa’s lap and they went out and piled into the sleigh. 

 

Chapter 12

 

When they arrived at church Ben took his little son down from the sleigh and let him go over to the other children and play for a bit. The little boy needed that. He didn’t get enough of it and he knew this was one of the things that made Winter a difficult time for his child. 

They went into church and Sparky sat quietly for once, not needing to be scolded to sit still or stop swinging his legs. When the reverend came to the sermon he announced, “Today I’ll be addressing the topic of Lies of Omission and how they can lead us into hell and eternal damnation.” 

Adam put his hands over his face, feeling the heat of embarrassment through his fingers. He let out a soft groan, thinking, ‘why that of all things today?’ and then noticed the expression on his little brother’s face. 

Sparky’s eyes widened and rounded and he sat up straight. “Papa! The reverend said a bad thing!” Sparky blurted out loud astonished that the man of God had said the very thing Papa had told him he shouldn’t say that morning.

Ben slapped his hands over his face and groaned. He quickly stood up and snatching his little boy up from the pew exited the church. He could still hear titters and the looks of amusement his own sons, other than Adam, had given him. 

Ben went into the graveyard and brushing snow off the top of a headstone sat down and placed Sparky in his lap. 

The little boy looked up at his father confused. “Papa, why did the reverend say that bad thing?”

“Nicky, listen to me very carefully. The reverend did not say ‘Hell and Damnation” like Rick Bonner did. Rick Bonner used it in a way that is considered a curse, a bad word. The reverend is talking about hell which is where people who do very bad things go, like people who murder other people, things like that. Their souls are damned which means they are lost to God and can never come to heaven. They stay in Hell forever. Do you understand?” Ben attempted to explain to his little boy. 

“No Papa. How can hell be a bad word and the reverend, who is a good man say it and it’s not a bad word at the same time? The little one asked, a look of total confusion on the child’s face. 

Ben shook his head. He was at a loss. How did one try to explain profanity, using words in a way that was not socially and religiously acceptable, yet those same words are used in the Bible, the book of God to a small child?  
When the other boys had said them, he had just scolded them and told them not to say them anymore and they didn’t. They had never asked why the reverend could say the very same words that he had just told them not to. The boys had just taken it at face value and just didn’t do it. 

“Nicky, it is a bit complicated for me to explain because you are not old enough or experienced enough in the ways of the world to understand yet. When you are older you will understand the difference between why some words can be both good and bad to say depending upon how they are used. For right now little boy I don’t want you to say them in the way you said them at the breakfast table this morning okay?” Ben asked hopefully. 

“Okay Papa.” Sparky cuddled into his father. “Papa, I’m cold, can we go back inside now?”

Ben smiled, “Yes baby, we can go inside now.” He picked up his little son and walked back into the church and sat in the family pew. The Reverend Ford was continuing his sermon. The Cartwright patriarch noticed his eldest’s face pink and his eyes cast down. Ben was glad the boy was taking the reverend’s words to heart. This most recent lie of omission could have had very serious repercussions. He planned to make that very clear to Adam once they arrived home. 

After services the elder Cartwright, taking Sparky by the hand, went up to Reverend Ford and explained about his son’s outburst. 

The reverend smiled, understanding completely the parent’s dilemma. “Ben teaching our children about these things can be a challenge, especially when you have such a bright inquisitive childlike Nicky here.” The reverend tousled Sparky’s hair.

“Yes Reverend, he certainly is a challenge.” The Cartwright patriarch shook hands and then went outside to join his friends and to allow the littlest Cartwright to play for a while. 

When they returned home, Ben sent Sparky to play in the great room and looked at Adam. “Son, I believe you and I need to have a very necessary talk out in the barn.”

The young man gulped. “Yes Sir.”

Ben and his son walked down to the barn together and he closed the door and led the way to the back.

He eyed his oldest son. “Adam, do you realize that your little brother could have been really hurt by leaving him with those Bonner brothers?”

“I do know now Sir.” The young man hung his head in guilt and remorse. 

“I’m very disappointed in you because I thought you knew better. I trusted you to keep your little brother safe and that didn’t happen. Then you lied about it on top of everything else. Adam, if I had known Sparky had drank that much beer I might have been able to help him better. A child that young and small could have been poisoned and even die from too much alcohol.” The boy’s father pushed his point home hard. 

“Yes Sir.” The boy hung his head, tears coming down, feeling very ashamed.

Ben sighed. “Adam, I’m going to have to tan you for this episode son. You placed your little brother in danger when you were supposed to keep him safe. You then lied about it and that too I can’t abide, you know how I feel about lying.” He lectured. 

“Yes Pa, I understand, I deserve it too.” The young man admitted, tears still coming down his face, feeling very guilty. 

Ben pulled Adam to him briefly and taking his handkerchief brushed away his son’s tears. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll make things right with your little brother and all will be well again. You’ll have learned from your mistakes and hopefully won’t repeat them.” He comforted his oldest son.

“Yes Pa.” Adam replied, a little shakily.

“Son, you know what to do.” Ben said, indicating the saddle stand with his head. 

When the boy’s father was through Adam was sore and knew he was going to have a hard time sitting for a while. “Pa, I’m sorry. I won’t ever let that happen again.” The young man apologized. 

“Adam, I believe you. You’re forgiven son and now we can put all this behind us.” Ben replied, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder and giving it a good squeeze, trying to communicate his love and affection for his oldest child. 

Adam looked into his father’s eyes and saw the forgiveness. “Thank you, Pa.,” He replied softly. 

“You’re welcome son.” Ben hugged his oldest child briefly and Adam allowed it. 

When it was lunchtime Sparky came downstairs and stopped short when he saw his oldest brother looking sad. “Adam? Are you, all right?” The little one asked, a worried little frown on his face. 

The older brother looked down into those trusting eyes and felt awful all over again. How could he have placed this innocent little boy in such a situation with those two. Pa had been more than right to tan him good. Tears came to his hazel eyes and his little brother began to tremble. “Adam?” He asked hesitantly Sparky had never seen his oldest brother like this. He had seen him cry after a spanking, but not like this either. It scared the little mite. 

“I’m okay Sweet Pea. I was punished by Pa for not taking good care   
of you when we were in town the other day.” Adam explained to his baby brother reassuringly.

“Oh.” Sparky looked down at his shoes, feeling embarrassed for his brother. 

The young man picked up the little mite and held his small warm body in his arms and gave him a squeeze. “I love you baby. I should never have left you alone with the Bonner brothers and I should never have brought you into the Bucket of Blood either. That was very naughty of me to do Sparky.”

The little boy cuddled trustingly into his oldest brother’s arms and Adam held him close.

“Adam, does your bottom hurt?” Sparky asked worriedly.

“Yes, Sweet Pea, but it will only be for a little bit. Remember I told you that when Pa tans us we usually have a hard time sitting down for a while and then it’s all right again.”

“Yes.” The Littlest Cartwright replied. 

“So, don’t worry Sweet Pea, I’m hurting right now, but it will get better.” The older boy smiled down at his little brother. 

Sparky gave Adam a big hug and let his oldest brother hold him in his arms for as long as he liked, not squirming to get down. 

Ben came in and saw the two brothers and smiled. How are my oldest and youngest children doing?”

“Just fine Papa.” Sparky looked at their father, trying to see if he was still angry with Adam. 

“Good.” Ben smiled and tousled the younger child’s hair.

“Papa?” Sparky asked hesitantly.

“Yes baby?” Ben smiled at his little son encouragingly.

“I don’t like it that you spanked Adam hard.” The youngster pronounced heartily. 

“Sweet pea, I didn’t like to do that either, but sometimes it’s necessary just like when I spank you hard. Your brother needed to learn a very important lesson.” His father explained. 

“Yes Papa.” The little one looked a bit dejected and Ben held out his arms. Sparky hesitated a moment, wanting to stay with Adam to give him comfort, but then went to his Papa and he hugged him tight too. 

Ben then tickled him, patting his bottom. “You are something else little boy. You love your brothers, don’t you?”

“Yes Papa. The little one replied with a grin. 

Ben grinned back. “I can see that little boy and I know they love you too.” He set the little mite back down and he ran back over to Adam and asked, “Adam, do you want to hold me some more?”

The older boy grinned at his baby brother. Hmm… I’m not sure, do you think I should?”

“Uh huh. You need me right now.” Sparky replied looking up at his big brother. 

Adam smiled and bending over scooped up the little mite and held him close. “You know something baby brother? You are so right. I just can’t sit down and cuddle you in my lap right now.”

“That’s okay, I know how hard it is to sit when your bottom’s sore.” Sparky rubbed his own little bottom in sympathy.

The young man grinned. How lucky their family had been to be able to have this little boy come into their lives. 

At lunch Adam had a hard time sitting even on a cushion, but made it through. Afterward he got one of his books and lay on his stomach on the floor in front of the hearth to read for a while. He had dozed off, falling asleep on the floor when Sparky came across his oldest brother. Taking his little hand, he patted his brother’s face. “Poor Adam, he’s all wore out from his spanking.” 

Ben coming onto this scene smiled broadly at the love the littlest Cartwright had for his oldest brother. 

The little boy turned and saw his father. “Papa, I need a pillow for Adam’s head. He fell asleep!

The elder Cartwright went over to the chair and taking one of the throw pillows handed it to Sparky who placed it under the older boy’s head. He picked up the open book that lay on the floor and handed it to his Papa, who put it up on the mantle for safe keeping. Then he got down on the floor and cuddled up to his brother’s side and fell asleep using Adam’s arm as a pillow. 

Ben smiled at the scene. He shook his head and gave thanks for the love that abounded in his family and how so much of it has grown since this little one came into their lives. It was true he was a trial, and could be frightening at times, but it was times like this that made it all worthwhile.

Ben took a blanket from the sofa and draped it over the two sleeping forms in front of the fire and sat in his chair to read the paper, content and happy.

The two middle brothers came in a bit noisily and Ben shushed them and pointed to the two sleeping figures on the floor. 

Hoss grinned broadly. “Well, would ya look at that Pa? Isn’t that cute.”

“Yeah, they sure are.” Little Joe chimed in with a grin. Then he went over and plopped himself down on top of Adam’s sore backside. 

Adam woke with a jolt “Ow! He tried to twist to throw off whatever had landed on his sore behind. He rolled over Sparky who woke up then with a loud wail because his older brother had accidentally twisted his little brother’s arm when he rolled on him. In moments what had been a peaceful scene was chaos. 

The oldest boy had finally managed to pin his younger brother to the carpet. The little mite was sitting there rubbing his arm and wailing. Little Joe was laughing to beat the band and Adam was yelling at him. Hoss stood there in utter surprise at the scene before him. 

Ben picked up Sparky first trying to comfort him and see what damage had been done to his arm. He then, seeing no immediate problem handed the little one to Hoss who hugged him and held him close. 

Ben went over to Little Joe and pulling him up off the floor dragged him over to his chair, flipped him over his knee and spanked him hard. 

Adam got up and rubbed his sore backside. Then bent down and picked up the blanket folding it and putting it back on the sofa. 

The oldest brother went over to Hoss and taking Sparky in his arms asked, “What happened little one? Why are you crying?”

“Adam,” the youngster sniffed rubbing his right arm. “You hurt my arm when you rolled over me.” Tears still came down. 

He gently examined his little brother’s arm. There was no bruising or swelling. “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t know you were there and I just wanted to get away from the pain…”

Sparky who had now stopped crying said, “It’s okay, Little Joe was naughty to hurt you.”

Ben was still swatting his younger son’s backside hard and Little Joe was crying and begging for him to stop now.

“You’re right Sparky. That was very naughty.” Adam put the little boy down and Ben, now finished spanking his son was scolding him. 

“Young man, you had no cause to do that to your brother! That wasn’t funny. You almost got your little brother badly hurt too.”

“I’m sorry Pa, I didn’t think he was that sore!” Little Joe was now rubbing his tender bottom. 

When the younger boy took his hands away from his backside, Sparky walked up behind his brother and before anyone knew it he pulled back his arm and swatted Little Joe as hard as he could with his little hand. It stung a bit and the other boy was very surprised.

“Oww!” Little Joe put his hands back covering his behind from any further assault. 

The littlest Cartwright came around in front of the other boy and said, “Don’t you ever do that to Adam again! You’re very naughty Little Joe!” The child announced, eyeing his brother, his little arms crossed in front of him in imitation of his Papa. 

Little Joe reached out grabbing the little boy and was about to administer a good swat to his behind when Hoss stepped in. 

“You swat Sparky and I’ll pound ya one. You know when Pa’s here he’s the one to discipline our little brother, not you.” The large boy scolded. 

Ben stood up, annoyed and shouted, “Enough!” He eyed all four of his sons. 

He picked up his youngest son and landed a sharp swat on his bottom.   
“OW Papa!” Sparky rubbed his own bottom now, tears springing into his large grey eyes. 

“That was not nice to do little boy. Papa already spanked your brother for hurting Adam. You are not to do that again. Doing that to little Joe was no better than what Little Joe did to Adam by sitting on his sore backside!” Ben scolded.

Sparky let the tears fall then rubbing the stinging spot on his bottom. 

Ben eyed Little Joe.” You, young man, I don’t ever want to see you grab your little brother like that to swat him again. I will be the one to administer any punishment if it is deserved, not you! Now apologize to Adam and Sparky.” Ben eyed his young son. 

“Yes Sir.” Little Joe hung his head, then he turned to his oldest and youngest brothers, “Adam, Sparky, I’m sorry for ruining your nap and for hurting you both.”

Adam smiled ruefully at his brother. “You’re forgiven Little Joe. Please don’t do that again.”

Sparky looked at his brother, still frowning. “You’re forgiven Little Joe, don’t you ever hurt Adam, or grab me like that again. I don’t like that!”

“I’m sorry Sweet Pea, really I am.” The other boy looked pretty penitent. 

“Okay.” The little one still frowned at his older brother. 

Ben then eyed his baby son. “Young man, you apologize to Little Joe for swatting him.”

Sparky looked up at Ben a little surprised. “Papa… he deserved that!”

“Nicholas, I’m the father here. I decide when to discipline and when not to, not you little one. Now you apologize or you and me will be having a very necessary talk for being disrespectful and disobedient.”

The youngster quickly pulled himself together, not wanting a spanking and looking at his brother gave him a sincere apology. “Little Joe, I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do that again.”

The other boy caught that his little brother had said he would try not to, not that he promised not to and grinned. “Apology accepted Sparky.” 

Adam then went upstairs to lie on his own bed for a while. 

Little Joe too decided to go upstairs because his bottom hurt now. 

Sparky picked up the pillow, still on the floor and put it back on the chair where it belonged, then went to his toy box, pulling out toys to play with. 

Hoss went upstairs and brought down a book to read by the fire and all was quiet in the Cartwright household again. 

 

Chapter 13

 

Later that night Ben stopped in at Little Joe’s room. He had been thinking and was concerned a bit by the incident that afternoon. His son had done that deliberately to Adam and although it was something typical of him, also had an overtone of something else, but just what that could be, he wasn’t sure. He knocked gently at the door and poked his head in.

The youngster looked up at his father. He was lying on his stomach in bed. 

“May I come in?” Ben asked, watching his son’s expression.

“Sure Pa, come on in.” Joe invited.

The man entered and sat on the edge of the bed. “Son, can you tell me why you jumped on Adam like that this afternoon? I know you are capable of doing something like that because you might think it was funny, but I think there was something else behind that too. Can you tell me what that is?” He asked gently. “Both your brothers were very peaceful, not bothering anyone.”

The elder Cartwright was startled at the angry green eyes that were trained on him. 

“It isn’t fair Pa! Sparky gets to do all the cute little boy things with Adam I never got a chance to do because he ran off to college. Why should that little brat have that with him when I couldn’t! He gets to do everything with my oldest brother. He even got to go to town with him while I had to stay home and help Hoss with the chores!”

Ben was taken aback. He had never dreamed that Little Jo would feel this way. “Son, I’m sorry that you never got to have those years with Adam, but he didn’t get to have those years with you either.”

“That’s his fault! He didn’t have to go off to college and leave me! Since he’s come back, I don’t see what use his college degree has been to him. It doesn’t seem worth the four long years with him gone and then when he came home he didn’t even know me Pa. I was ten years old and he wanted to treat me like I was Sparky’s age now! Now it seems I get pushed aside. It seems everything is him and Adam. I didn’t have much of my oldest brother before, but now it seems I have nothing of him at all!” 

The elder Cartwright had been aware of the struggles between his sons after Adam’s return from college. His oldest was treating his younger brother like he was six because that was how he remembered him. There was that long gap in their relationship. It had taken quite a while for them to close it and Ben had thought it had been breached. Apparently, Sparky coming into the family had brought up some old resentments that still had not been resolved, just put aside. With the little boy in the family now there wouldn’t be any gap between the little mite and Adam. His oldest boy would always be in the child’s life. The youngster wouldn’t miss Hoss or Little Joe in that way, as neither of them had a wish to go away to college, but to stay right here on the ranch. 

“Little Joe, there’s something you’re old enough to understand now and that I need to share with you about that time.” Ben sat back ready to tell this story, which was a bit long and involved. 

The youngster sat up in his bed, wincing a little and looked at his Pa, looking interested. 

The man looked at his young son and began, “If I hadn’t sent your brother off to college he might have ended up dead, in jail, or even prison.”

“Huh? Adam?” Joe exclaimed with a surprised look on his face. 

“Yes. You see Little Joe, after your mother died I was so distraught I did nothing. I didn’t interact with you children, didn’t care about the ranch, nothing. Your brother was only sixteen, still a boy, but taking on a man’s job. By the time I pulled out of things and began to take back the reins and be the father, boss and everything else I needed to be he had grown beyond his sixteen years. He thought of himself as a man, although he was still a boy. He did a man’s work and thought he was entitled to a man’s privileges. At almost eighteen, he would go to town and drink and gamble. He was hanging around with Rick and Jeff Bonner and just out of control. He was defiant and wouldn’t listen to me. Finally, I had to rein him in hard. I confronted him one night after he had come home drunk. I told him he had a choice, to go to college in Boston or to leave the ranch and not be allowed to return because I didn’t want his influence for you or Hoss. He decided to go to college. I tanned him good that night. Your brother pretty much went to college under pressure from me, not because he wanted to run off and leave you and your brother.”

Little Joe was a bit shocked. “You forced him to go Pa? You would have forced him to leave?”

“I’m glad it didn’t come down to that son, I pretty much knew Adam would choose college. I knew he wanted to go and that going to a university had been a dream of his for a very long time. Going to college in Boston also gave him time to be away from all the pressures he had taken on here at home and allow him to get back on track, which you can see he has done.”

The youngster sat there a bit stunned. All this time he had thought Adam had just left him because he cared more about education than his little brother. “I understand Pa, but it still doesn’t make it any easier that Sparky gets to grow up with him and I didn’t.”

“Little Joe, let’s look at your little brother’s life and his situation. You had a Mama and a Papa from the day you were born until you were five years old and your mama died. Sparky had a father who disappeared from his life when he was just a baby, lived with an aunt who abused him, lost both his mother and grandfather, who was like a father to him, ended up being a pawn in a deadly game having to survive on only the kindness of people at the mining camp and not finding a safe loving family until he turned five. Your little brother had a lot of deficits when he came here remember? He couldn’t speak, didn’t know how to eat properly, was scared of everything and everyone, had to learn to trust and to love. You had a gap between six and ten without your brother. This child has had a gap from infanthood until he was found by me of not having a family that loved him and cherished him. He did have his mother and grandfather, who loved him, but they were in no position to offer him any stability in his life. This past summer when Sparky’s natural father shoed up and took your little brother away, how did you feel?”

Tears came to the youngster’s eyes, “Very bad Pa, I missed him. I missed him when we thought he was dead a year ago last fall and was very grateful for Chief Winnemucca bringing him back on Thanksgiving and was scared last Spring when he almost drowned in the flash flood. I was very scared when his father brought him back so sick and I thought he was going to die.”

“Why do you suppose you had all those feelings son?”

Little Joe flushed with embarrassment now. “Because I love him Pa.” Tears streaked down the boy’s face and Ben gathered his child into his arms. 

“Son, don’t begrudge your little brother what he has that you didn’t. You have had things in your life he didn’t. You were never abused Little Joe, you have always been in the arms of a loving family. Sparky is still recovering from so many things. Will you be so mean as to not allow him the relationship he has with your brother? He has lost both his mother and father now, and Lyle not very long ago. Even though he was abusive to your baby brother he was still his daddy. I’m going to share something with you son that I haven’t told anyone. One day, not too long ago I found a wet spot on the blotter on my desk. I knew it was tears from Sparky because he was the only one home at the time. When I spoke to him about it, he told me he was angry and sad that all of you had a picture of your mother and he had none. He has no picture of either his mother or father to remind him of the people who once loved him in his life.”

Little Joe was feeling really sad now. He had no idea of the things his father told him. At thirteen now, he had an ability to understand that he hadn’t at age six. 

Ben could see the wheels turning and things clicking in his son’s eyes as understanding and events came together in his head.

“Pa?” Little Joe looked into his father’s eyes.

“Yes Joe?” he kept the eye contact.

“I understand now. I’m sorry and I’ll try to be nicer to both my brothers from now on.” 

“Good boy. I promise to be more mindful of your need to do things with Adam as well as Sparky and try to remind your brother of that. There is no need for either of you to feel neglected by your oldest brother. I’m very certain there is more than enough of him to go around to all three of you. Hoss needs him just as much as you two.” Ben smiled and tousled the youngster’s hair.

“Pa?” Little Joe looked up at his father.

“Yes?” Ben put a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Thanks for telling me all this and explaining things to me. I’ll try not to be jealous anymore.”

The elder Cartwright hugged his son and then to Little Joe’s consternation and delight hauled him into his lap and cuddled him, holding his child close. 

After a while he released Little Joe and kissed him on the forehead. “Son, you’re growing up. Keep up the good job.”

The youngster ducked his head. “Yes Sir.” 

Ben got up and tucked his boy in bed, turning out the lamp. He sighed to himself realizing his youngest son was growing up and beginning to gain the understanding of life he needed to continue to mature into a good man. 

 

Chapter 14

 

There was a bit of a thaw toward the middle of January and Sparky and Little Joe were able to make it into school. They hadn’t been since before Christmas. Nicky had forgotten his father had given Miss Jones permission to swat him now and his first day back dug in his heels, getting stubborn. 

“Nicholas Cartwright. Please stand up and read from your primer.”

Sparky frowned. “Miss Jones, I don’t want to do that. It’s stupid. It’s reading baby stuff.”

“Nicholas, you will do as directed.” Miss Jones countered.

“No. I’ll read something more interesting, like my history book, but I’m not reading that baby stuff!” The youngster said belligerently.

Little Joe looked up at Sparky arguing with their teacher. 

“Nicholas Cartwright, you go stand in the corner now, for being disrespectful!” Miss Jones pointed to the corner.

Sparky crossed his little arms and still sitting in his seat looked up at her and said “No, I won’t!”

The woman bent down and taking Sparky by the arm hauled him to his feet. She turned him, landed three hard swats to his behind and marched the little boy to the corner. 

“Ow! You’re not supposed to do that!” Sparky cried, tears coming down his face now and rubbing the stinging spot on his behind. 

“It seems little boy that you’ve forgotten your Papa gave me permission now to swat you if you need it and young man, you needed those swats!” You will also be getting a note home as well.”

The little boy stood in the corner totally embarrassed. He had forgotten Miss Jones could swat him now. He was surprised that she could swat as hard as Papa or Adam. Ouch! The little boy, fighting to not rub his stinging bottom, stood there in the corner, as he had been directed to. 

When Miss Jones called the child out of the corner She asked him, “What do you have to say for yourself young man?”

“I’m sorry Miss Jones. I’ll try not to be disrespectful to you again.” 

“Very good Nicholas. You may be seated.” 

The youngster went back to his seat and sat down. His bottom still hurt a little. 

Miss Jones gave Sparky his note just before lunch and when Hop Sing came to pick him up, she informed him about the note. 

When the Chinaman got the little mite home he fed him and the child played in the great room until Ben, Adam and Hoss came home in about midafternoon. They had been bringing feed out to the cattle now that the weather had broken for a bit. The more feed they could get out to them, the fewer their losses would be come Spring. 

“How is the littlest Cartwright?” Ben asked, picking up his child and swinging him around.

“Naughty Papa.” His son replied, with a little boy smile.

Ben quirked an eyebrow at him. “Hmm… we’ll have to see about that, then won’t we?”

“Yes Papa, I got a note from Miss Jones at school.” The little boy dug the note out of his jeans pocket, handing it to his father.

Ben took the note and the child by the hand and led him to his desk. 

The little mite clambered up into the chair at the side of the desk. 

“Nicky,” Ben looked at his little boy, “What will I find in this note?”

“Umm… that I was disrespectful to Miss Jones for arguing with her about a school assignment and disobedient because I wouldn’t do it. She also swatted me and stood me in the corner.” Sparky ducked his head. 

“I see. Why don’t you tell me more about it?”

“Well, Miss Jones asked me to read from my primer and I didn’t want to. It’s baby stuff Papa. I offered to read from my history book, but she wouldn’t let me. I argued with her and she hauled me to my feet, swatted me three times hard and stood me in the corner.” I apologized and she sent home a note.”

“I see.” Ben thought about this. He didn’t want Sparky to be disrespectful, but Miss Jones also shouldn’t be requiring him to do schoolwork below his capabilities because this was surely the reaction she would get. He himself might have balked at having to do an assignment like that. Ben wondered if she provoked it just to be able to assert her authority with the child in that she now had the power to swat him good if he tested the limits. He’d have to think some about that too. 

He read the note and it said essentially what Sparky had told him. He wrote on it and signing it, handed it back to the little boy. “Don’t forget to give this back to Miss Jones.”

“Yes Papa.” Sparky put the note back in his jeans pocket. 

Ben then sat back and eyed his little boy. He continued his lecture. “Nicholas, even if you didn’t agree with what miss Jones asked you to do there was no reason for you to be disrespectful and disobedient. Go to your room. I’ll be up in a bit.”

Sparky looked very sad. “Yes Papa.” He slid off the chair and did as he was told. 

Ben went up in a little bit. He opened the door and closing it pulled out the chair from the child’s desk and sat on it, opposite his son’s bed.   
“Nicholas, I’m not going to punish you very much this time. I understand you were being asked to do something a bit foolish. Miss Jones is your teacher. You must do as she asks. If she continually asks you to do things you don’t like or think are not up to your capabilities you need to tell me and I will deal with it. You are not to take things into your own hands. It is when you do that that you end up in trouble do you understand?”

“Yes Papa.”

“Good. Come over here now son.” Ben indicated that Sparky should come over to his side. 

Ben pulled the child down across his lap and administered three sharp swats to his blue jean clad bottom, then released him and put him in his lap and cuddled him. 

Sparky cuddled into his father’s arms with tears coming down his face, not so much from the swats, but from understanding his acting so naughty had disappointed his Papa. 

<<<<>>>>

The next day the youngster went back to school and gave Miss Jones his note. He didn’t know that Papa had also written a note back to Miss Jones informing her that Ben did not expect her to be giving his son assignments to do that were below his aptitude and to continue to challenge him academically. He reminded her that there would be fewer conflicts that way. The child was not stupid and would balk at being treated that way. He also informed her that he would not be happy if she set his child up to behave poorly in order to exercise her new authority to swat him for poor behavior in school. 

Miss Jones, after reading the note sighed. She knew better than to underestimate the man. He had seen right through her in regard to her new authority over his son in being able to swat that little boy. She would have to be more careful from now on. She set Ben’s note aside and began school for the day. 

 

Chapter 15

 

Saturday came and Ben assigned Hoss and Little Joe to go to the South pasture to spread feed for the cattle there. He and Adam would go to the North pasture and do the same. 

Sparky hearing his brothers being assigned to do something outside decided he too was going to help. He had collected the eggs from the chickens as this had now become his daily chore. He also was to fill the kitchen kindling box, which had become his second chore. 

Once the little boy had completed his chores he ate breakfast with the rest of the family and then everyone got ready to go outside and head on out to do their assigned work for the day. 

The littlest Cartwright had kept his coat and mittens where he could get to them and putting them on, slipped out and crawled onto the hay sleigh that Hoss and Little Joe would be taking out to the South pasture. He stayed pretty warm huddled into all that hay. He had wedged himself between a couple of bales and relaxed as they rode along. When they stopped, Hoss and little Joe began to pull the bales off one by one with a pitchfork, breaking them apart so the cattle could get at the feed. 

They had gotten about three quarters of the way through when Hoss caught site of something red. Wondering what it was, he found his baby brother tucked down in among the hay bales.   
“Nicholas Brett Gibson Cartwright! Ya get out of there right now!” Hoss bellowed.

Sparky popped up then from behind the bale of hay where he had been hiding. “Hi Hoss, Little Joe!” The little boy said smiling mischievously. 

“Little brother, I’m going to pound ya! Do ya know ya coulda been hurt? Suppose I stuck this big old Pitchfork into that bale and missed. I coulda stabbed ya and ya’da been hurt real bad! I mighta even killed ya!” The older boy trembled from fear and shock of what might have happened. 

“That wouldn’t have happened. I knew what you were doing and I would have moved before you could have done anything like that.” The youngster said smugly.

“Little boy, just where do ya think ya’d been able to move to? There ain’t any room for ya to move quickly enough ta have gotten out of the way of my pitchfork! By the way, does anyone know ya out here with us?” he asked, this time putting his hands on his hips.

Now it was Sparky’s turn to be worried. ‘Uh oh, wandered off without telling anyone again. Papa wasn’t going to like that and his backside wasn’t going to like It much either.’ “Umm… no Hoss.” Sparky said softly looking down at his shoes.

“Just what I thought.” The older boy was tempted to spank his baby brother hard, but knew he would be overstepping his bounds. He’d let Pa handle it though. Hoss reached down and picking up his little brother plopped him up on the seat of the sleigh. “Ya stay there now until Joe and me got this here hay all taken care of. I don’t wanna see ya move off that seat little boy if ya value ya hide!”

Sparky stayed where Hoss put him. His brother hadn’t spanked him very often, but the couple of times he had hadn’t tickled so he stayed right where he was. 

Without the shelter of the hay the little boy was getting cold. He tucked his mittened hands under his arms and shivered in the cold. 

When the two older brothers finally returned to the sleigh, Sparky was freezing. His teeth were chattering and tears were coming down his face because he was miserable. Hoss seeing this swore to himself. He hadn’t thought about the little tyke being so cold just sitting there. He and Little Joe weren’t cold because they were moving about doing hard work. He immediately grabbed a blanket from the bed of the sleigh and wrapped the little boy in it. 

“I’m sorry Sparky. I forgot ya’d be so cold just sitting here.”

The child said nothing, just huddled into the blanket. The two older brothers sandwiched their little brother between them to add warmth. After a bit the little mite grew warm again and his tears stopped. 

<<<<>>>>

Hop Sing went to see what the littlest Cartwright was up to. He had been very quiet. When he discovered he was gone he became very angry. He went out to the barn. The boy’s pony was there but there was no sign of the child. Hop Sing searched everywhere he could think of, but still no Sparky.   
He went to the bunkhouse and sent one of the older hands to find Ben in the North Pasture and to tell him the youngest Cartwright had gone missing. 

Old Charlie had saddled up his mount, leading Buck and headed out to where the Boss was. He knew the man would not be happy with his baby son. 

Ben and Adam were down to about a bale when Old Charlie came riding up with his boss’s mount in tow. 

Ben strode up to him. “Charlie, why are you out in this cold? What’s wrong?”

“Boss, Hop Sing sent me. Little Sparky has come up missing. He’s not around the house and he’s worried. 

The elder Cartwright’s face became suffused with anger. When was that little boy going to learn to not wander off! 

“Okay Charlie. We don’t have much more to finish up here. I’ll come back with you. “He turned to where his oldest son was and called. “Adam, can you finish up? “I’m headed back to the ranch. Sparky has come up missing.”

The older boy picked up his head. “Missing?”

“Yes.” 

“Okay Pa. I’ll finish up here, you go ahead.”

Charlie had brought Buck and Ben climbed aboard and turned with his ranch hand to ride back to the house. 

<<<<>>>>

The two brothers reached home. Hoss picked up his now sleeping brother and brought him inside. “Hop Sing! I have Sparky here in case ya’ve been wondering where he got off ta.”

Hop Sing came bustling in and then seeing the sleeping boy in the large boy’s arms melted.   
“I take boy and put him in room.”

“Thanks. Little Joe and me have ta take care of the sleigh and horses.” 

About that time Ben came riding in and seeing his sons hailed them. “Hoss, Little Joe, have you seen your little brother?”

“Yeah Pa, he was hiding in the sleigh behind the bales of hay. I just brought him inta the house. He’s asleep.”

“Lucky for him at the moment.” Ben said tersely. 

“Pa, I was really scared. If I hadn’t seen one of his red mittens sticking out I might a stabbed him with the pitchfork unloading one of the bales. He seemed to think that it couldn’ta happened. I made him sit on the seat of the sleigh until we were done. He got real cold Pa. I hope he doesn’t get sick. I forgot or I woulda put a blanket around him.”

The elder Cartwright placed a hand on his large son’s shoulder. “Don’t worry Hoss. He shouldn’t have been there to begin with. I will be making * very* certain he learns a lesson about this.”

“Yes Pa.” Both Little Joe and Hoss responded exchanging glances. Their father was very upset with their little brother and they didn’t want to be in his shoes when he taught him his lesson. 

<<<<>>>>

Little Sparky woke in his bed. He felt fine and putting on his shoes crept downstairs. 

Ben catching the movement in the corner of his eye waited until the child was right next to his chair and snaked out an arm and pulled the boy to him.

“Oh!” Sparky was surprised. The youngster’s eyes bugged out because his Papa had snagged him when he didn’t expect it. 

“Where do you think you are going little boy?” Ben eyed his son. 

“Umm… nowhere Papa.” The child looked at the carpet.

“Wrong little boy, you will be going somewhere all right, you will be definitely taking a trip over my knee!” Ben said sternly eyeing his son. 

Sparky looked up in some trepidation at his father’s pronouncement. “Are you mad Papa?”

“Now Nicholas, you’re a pretty smart boy, what do you think? How do you think I would be feeling about you wandering off without telling anyone, hiding in the sleigh among the hay bales where you could have gotten badly hurt?” Ben asked crossing his arms across his chest and frowning.

Little Sparky ducked his head and said in a soft small voice. “Very mad Papa, because   
we’ve had this talk a lot of times.” 

The boy’s father reached out and gently tipped the child’s face up to meet his eyes. “Nicholas, I’ve promised you a very harsh punishment the next time you wandered off. Hop Sing was so worried he had to get old Charlie out in the cold to bring me Buck and come back to the house because you were gone. I had to leave Adam all alone to finish the work, which wasn’t fair to him. You scared your brother Hoss because he could have accidentally stabbed you with the pitchfork he was using to remove and break up the bales of hay. You would *not* have been able to move out of the way quickly enough being wedged in between the bales of hay like you were because there wouldn’t have been anywhere you could have gone to get out of the way. Sparky, I’m very disappointed in you about this. It caused you to end up on the cattle drive with us where you shouldn’t have been. It caused us worry in San Francisco when the constable found you. It caused us worry when you slipped out to use the water closet in the hotel, I also understand that Cookie had to track you down one day on the trail. He told me about it after we got to San Francisco. Then you wandered off on the ferry and Adam and I thought you might have fallen overboard drowning, now this.” Ben continued to display his extreme displeasure with his small son on his face. 

Sparky seeing how upset his father was with him and hearing about his numerous transgressions in recent times and knowing there had also been numerous ones before that understood he was in big trouble. 

“Son, let’s go up to your room and take care of this.” Ben took the little boy by the hand and led him upstairs. Once there Ben said, “You stay here. I’ll be right back.” He left the room.

Sparky sat on his bed trembling. He knew Papa had gone to get the hairbrush. He also knew his bottom was going to be very sore when Papa was through. 

When Ben returned the dreaded hairbrush in his hand he saw the boy trembling as he looked up. Tears were already coursing down his little face. He hated what he had to do, but steeled himself to follow through. He shut the door, walked over to the desk, removing the chair, placed it in front of his son sitting on his bed facing him. “Sparky, do you understand why we are having this very necessary talk?”

The little boy looked up at his father. “Yes Papa, because I wandered off without telling anyone and ended up in a dangerous situation because of it.” His voice broke at the end of his sentence and he began to sob. 

The little mite was breaking Ben’s heart. He couldn’t stand to see the tears coursing down the boy’s face. He also knew there would be a whole lot more of them before he was through. “Sweet Pea, do you understand how dangerous what you did was?”

The youngster looked at his father. “Yes Papa.” 

“Okay, Nicky, come over here.” Ben beckoned to the child and he walked over to him. The man looked at him. “Nicky, you know that I promised you the next time you wandered off you would be getting a spanking with the hairbrush that would get directly to the seat of the problem.” 

The little boy nodded in understanding, standing at his father’s side. 

When Ben was through with the spanking, he knew this would be one punishment his little boy wouldn’t forget for a very long time. He picked up his crying son and being careful of his now very sore bottom, held him in his lap, rubbing his back soothing him until he stopped crying. Once Sparky stopped crying Ben kissed him on the top of the head and asked, “Are you all right Sweet Pea?”

“Yes Papa. I’m sorry Papa, I’ll try not to do anything like this again!” 

“I’m very sure you’ll think about this for a little while baby. Papa loves you and doesn’t want to see you hurt. I’d rather see you with a bottom that hurts than to see you suffer with the hurts from a bad accident or that someone else inflicted on you because there wasn’t anything you could do about it.” Ben hugged the little mite and held him close.

Sparky fell asleep and his Papa, removing his shoes, laid him on his stomach in his bed, then covered him up with a quilt, feeling sad at having had to go this far with his youngest son, but the little one had to learn that wandering off without anyone’s knowledge was a very dangerous thing. He picked up the hairbrush and replaced the chair under the desk and left the room. 

 

Chapter 16

 

When Sparky woke later, he winced as he stretched. His behind hurt. He remembered why too. He had to apologize to everyone and he wasn’t relishing that. He’d have to face Hop Sing and he might swat him on his sore bottom with the wooden spoon. He knew Hoss or Little Joe wouldn’t swat him. He wasn’t too sure about Adam though. He snuggled down into the quilt, not wanting to face his family, but knowing he had to. 

When the little boy sat up he realized his bottom hadn’t fully recovered yet from his Papa’s necessary talk. He put his shoes on and headed downstairs feeling perfectly miserable. 

The youngster found everyone in the great room. He bravely went up to Hoss first and said, “Hoss, I’m sorry for hiding among the hay bales, I realize you were right and I could have been seriously hurt.” The little one hung his head.

The large boy hugged his little brother. “Baby brother, I forgive ya, but dontcha ever do something like that again or I’m gonna have ta swat ya hard do ya understand?” 

“Yes Hoss. I won’t do it again.”

“Good.” He hugged the little mite and Sparky was glad to not be in trouble with his big brother anymore. 

He then turned to Little Joe and apologized to him as well and his brother hugged the littlest Cartwright too. “Sweet Pea, you scared me and Hoss. I hate to think of what could have happened if we hadn’t seen you hiding in there.”

“I know Little Joe and I’m sorry.” Sparky hugged his brother and he returned the hug. 

The littlest Cartwright sought out and approached his oldest brother a bit hesitantly.” Adam?”

“Yes, Sweet Pea.” 

“Are you mad at me?” 

Adam looked at his young brother. “NO, I’m not mad at you Sparky, I’m kind of disappointed that you behaved this way after all the times you, me and Pa have talked about your wandering off, especially after the last time on the ferry crossing to Sacramento.” 

The little boy ducked his head. “I’m sorry. I’ll try harder not to do this again. I know it’s bad, but sometimes I don’t think about the consequences until it’s too late. I seem to get focused on what I want, or want to do and not think about how it disappoints and worries my family until it’s too late. ”

Adam then gave the little mite a big hug. “I forgive you little brother, but it is truly worrisome to not know where you are. We all love you so much that it hurts our hearts when you’re not where we know you should be.” The older boy set his little brother down. 

Sparky stood there and hung his head, tears coming down his little face now. The older boy bent down and wiped them away. “Nicky, you’ll just have to try harder. I think Pa is going to get harder on you for doing this and that too won’t be very pleasant.” He rubbed the child’s back and then tousled his hair.

Sparky rubbed his bottom. “I know. Papa spanked me with the hairbrush this time, getting directly to the seat of the problem” 

Adam laughed. “I understand baby, I know exactly how much that hurts too, having experienced that more than a couple of times in my life.” He again carefully picked up his tiny brother and hugged him. 

Sparky knew his brother loved him and forgave him, this felt good to the little mite.

“Adam?” Sparky looked up at his big brother with some trepidation.

“Yes baby?” The older boy smiled at the little one.” 

I have to apologize to Hop Sing. I think he’s going to be mad. I’m afraid he’s going to swat me with his wooden spoon.” Sparky’s little chin trembled.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Adam again smiled at the little boy.

“Would you?” the child asked hopefully.

“I won’t stop Hop sing though if he does want to spank you.” The young man said sternly.

Sparky’s little face fell. He had secretly hoped his oldest brother would do exactly that. “I understand.”

Adam with the youngster still in his arms carried the little mite into the kitchen to face their Chinese cook.

Hop Sing looked up as the oldest Cartwright son carried in the youngest one. He understood that the little one was worried. He had cause to be. The man put on his sternest face. “What boys want in Hop Sing’s kitchen?” 

Sparky said, “Please put me down.” 

The older boy did just that. 

The littlest Cartwright looked up at the cook. “Hop Sing, I want to apologize for wandering away from you without telling you, worrying you and everyone else.” The little mite spoke up bravely. 

Hop Sing still with his stern look on his face and his arms crossed with the wooden spoon in his hand asked, “Boy tell Hop Sing Why Hop Sing shouldn’t spank boy with wooden spoon.” 

The child glanced up at Adam, but his oldest brother said nothing. “I don’t have a really good reason Hop Sing. Papa spanked me hard with the hairbrush and I deserved it. Because you were in charge and I was d-deceitful, slipping away without telling you, I deserve whatever punishment you decide to give me.”

The little Chinaman smiled to himself at the boy’s honesty. He wasn’t trying to get out of any punishment he might want to administer and although the little boy didn’t realize it, that earned him good points in Hop Sing’s estimation because it showed him the child was taking responsibility for his actions. 

“Little boy come here.” Hop Sing sat on one of the kitchen chairs. Sparky bravely came to the man’s side. “Hop Sing see that boy understands he misbehave. Hop Sing not give boy spanking planned. The little Chinaman said sternly.

The little mite looked at Hop Sing relief evident in his little face.

“Hop Sing still give little boy spanking, but little one instead of big one.” The little Chinese man eyed the child sternly.

Sparky had been relieved, thinking he wasn’t going to be spanked, but now was worried again. He said “Yes Hop Sing.”

The Chinese man pulled the child over his lap, smacking him six times across his blue jeaned bottom with his wooden spoon, right on the place where he knew it would make the most impression and then stood the child up. 

“Owwww! Hop Sing! That hurt! Sparky wailed now rubbing his backside for all he was worth. 

Adam, witnessing this whole scene hid a smile. Sometimes Hop Sing’s “little spankings” could hurt more than his big ones because all the smacks were centered on one spot on your behind and that would be where you would need to be doing the most sitting. 

The little Chinaman then pulled the child into his arms and said, “Little boy forgiven. Little boy not do this again.” 

“I will try very hard to not do this again Hop Sing. I don’t want everyone to worry about me.” Sparky hugged the man who was most like a mother to him in his life.

“Little boy go out of Hop Sing’s kitchen now. He handed the youngest and oldest Cartwright children each two cookies and shooed them out. 

Once they left the kitchen Sparky grinned, rubbing his stinging bottom. “Adam, at least we each got a couple of Hop Sing’s cookies out of it.” 

The older boy grinned in return. “Yes, little brother, we certainly did. Remind me to come with you when you’re facing a punishment by Hop Sing more often.”

The little boy grimaced at his brother. “I hope that won’t be too soon, my backside really hurts after that.”

Adam reached down and tousled the child’s hair. “I’m sure it does little one.” 

The two Cartwright brothers went into the great room and Ben eyed his two sons with cookies in their hands. “How did the two of you end up with cookies and the rest of us have none?”

The littlest Cartwright grinned. “Because Hop Sing smacked my bottom with the wooden spoon and wanted me to feel better.”

The elder Cartwright eyed his oldest son and asked, “Did you get smacked too?”

Adam grinned. “Nope, I was just there for moral support.” 

Ben smiled then and Hoss and Little Joe, looking up from their checker game smiled at their brothers. 

At supper time Sparky squirmed on his cushion. His bottom still ached from the punishments he had received. He ate pretty well, though and this surprised Ben. When the child was through he asked, Papa, May I leave the table and go play?” Squirming uncomfortably on his cushion.

“No, Sweet Pea, you haven’t eaten your dessert yet.” The boy’s father smiled.

“Papa, I don’t want any dessert.” The little boy said squirming some more. 

“You? Not wanting dessert? You must be sick then. I think I’d better put you to bed early.” The little boy’s father said with mock sternness.

“No, Papa, I’ll wait for dessert. I’m just sore and I don’t want to sit anymore.” The youngster confessed red faced.

“I suspected that was the case little boy. You just have to wait a little bit longer. Once dessert has been served and you’ve eaten pretty well, you may leave the table then.” Ben said sympathetically. 

Once the little one had eaten most of his dessert he asked to be excused and was granted the privilege. 

Sparky behaved quite well for the next several days. One evening when each of the family members were occupied by the fire the littlest Cartwright approached each one, giving them a hug and cuddling in their lap. He didn’t seem to want to play with his toys, just wanted to cuddle. Ben was wondering what this was all about. When Sparky crawled in his lap for the third time that evening he asked, “Little one, what’s the matter?”

The child looked up into his father’s dark eyes with those big grey ones. “Nothing Papa, I just want to be close to everyone.”

Ben smiled down at his little boy. “You’re sure?”

“Yes Papa.” The little boy snuggled close. 

Sparky did this for the rest of the evening and each of his brothers and his Papa were happy to accommodate him. 

For the next several days the little mite did this and although no one minded it puzzled Ben. The child was compliant, doing all the schoolwork he was assigned by Adam as they had again been snowed in and the children couldn’t get to school. He played quietly with his toys when he played and the rest of the time clung tightly to his family. Even in the morning after he collected the chicken eggs he hugged Hop Sing and the little Chinese man picked up the little one and held him tight. 

One morning Hop Sing worked at making breakfast with one hand while holding the little mite in his other arm. 

That morning Ben walked in and saw this and quirked an eyebrow at his cook. Hop Sing gave Ben a fierce look that made Ben smile and he said nothing about it. He was curious however about his child’s latest display of insecurity. 

 

Chapter 17

 

This behavior went on for about two weeks. Ben was puzzled. Sparky wasn’t cranky, crying, or acting out, any of the usual things, just quiet and clingy. Ben believed it was a phase his child was going through. 

When a thaw came and Sparky and Little Joe could again return to school, Ben was still clueless, but everyone was more than willing to give the youngest member of their family what he needed. 

“Sweet Pea, it’s time for you to get up and do your chores. You’ll have to go to school today.” Ben smiled down at his little one.

“Papa, I don’t want to go to school. I want to stay home and work like we’ve been doing.” The little boy whined.   
“Ben thought to himself, ‘uh oh, here we go again.’ “No Sweet Pea. When it’s nice enough for you and little Joe to go to school, then it’s nice enough for Adam, Hoss and me to go out to the pastures and bring feed out to the cattle and check to see how they are faring. We won’t be home to teach you.” The little boy’s father explained. 

The youngster remembered the last time they had a major blow up about this and backed down. “Okay Papa.”

Ben was a bit surprised that there hadn’t been more of a struggle, but was glad. 

When Sparky and Little Joe got to school the other children were very glad to see them again. Some of the other children who had had difficulty in getting to school had shown up as well and Miss Jones was glad to see this. She spent the morning testing the children to see where they were at in their studies and was pleased to see that most of the children’s parents had tried to keep up their schoolwork during their absence. She knew without a doubt that Joseph and Nicholas Cartwright wouldn’t be behind and even a little ahead with Adam being their tutor. 

<<<<>>>>

In a while the Littlest Cartwright’s clingy behavior lessened and he began to return to his usual curious, mischievous self. The topic of Valentine’s Day came up and the littlest Cartwright had very little idea of its significance, except that it involved a lot of “mushy stuff”. There had been talk of a Valentine’s dance in town and a party in school for the children. They would make their valentines and send them to each other in school. 

Little Joe was getting to the age now where girls held a little bit of interest for him, but not a lot. He liked to talk to them and they liked to talk to him too, but that was about as far as it got. 

One little girl, April Jansen was one of these. She liked Little Joe’s pinto, Cochise and told him so and they talked about horses all the time. 

Nicholas Cartwright was an attraction to the girls, not only because he was cute and adorable in looks, but also because of his status as the class hero. Nancy Jenkins and Kristy Dennison both had crushes on him. Sally Robbins felt she had acclaim on Nicky because she knew him first and had even gotten into trouble with him at Christmas time. 

Sparky was oblivious to the girl’s attentions. He spent more time with Patrick Kelly, his desk mate than anyone else. 

When he got home from school that day Sparky asked Ben, “Papa, why is everyone so mushy on Valentine’s Day?”

Ben smiled down at his little boy. “Sweet Pea, Valentine’s Day is a special day for people to show each other just how much they’re loved.” Ben scooped up his child and gave him a squeeze. 

“How come Papa?” Sparky asked guilelessly.

Ben Smiled. “Well, it’s a long story son. There was a man named Valentine a long time ago and he died in the name of love.”

Little Sparky’s eyes widened and rounded. “He died Papa?”

”Uh huh, that’s why the day of his death, February fourteenth is celebrated each year.” 

The youngster looked up at his father. “That’s terrible Papa.”

“Yes, it was tragic, but each year it gives us a chance to tell someone special in our lives how much we love them in an extra special way. We can also tell our neighbors, teachers, schoolmates, friends, fellow church members, our church leaders and anyone else we want how much we care about them. Sometimes we give them cards, sometimes candy, sometimes other kind of gifts. Some people propose marriage or get married on Valentine’s day.”

The little boy, sitting in his father’s lap processed this information. “Papa?” Sparky looked up. 

“Yes baby?” Ben asked smiling. 

“Who are you taking to the Valentine’s dance? Do you know how to dance? Can you teach me?” The youngster blurted out all of a sudden. 

The look of shocked surprise on Ben’s face was priceless. Adam, Hoss and Little Joe, all of whom had been listening to this little exchange between their father and little brother almost burst out laughing. 

Ben eyed his other sons and said, “That’s a lot of questions in a quick minute there little one. First of all, I haven’t asked anyone to the Valentines Dance, I will probably be a chaperone. Second, yes I can dance and thirdly, yes, I can teach you, but why do you want to learn?” The Cartwright patriarch again smiled down at his little son.

“Well Papa, I want to see you go to the dance with a lady like Adam and Hoss. I think Little Joe is going to ask April Jansen to go with him. I want to be able to know how to dance so I can invite a girl to the dance too!” Sparky said earnestly.

All four of the older Cartwrights fought to keep from laughing at the little tyke. Ben tried to take the child seriously. 

“Who would you ask to the dance Sparky?”

“I think Either Sally Robbins or Kristy Dennison.” Sparky spoke up. I like them both.” The little boy declared.

Ben was a little surprised, but did not give himself away. “Hmm… then I guess you had better learn to dance. I think that Little Joe would be the best one to teach you though because he’s a little closer to your height.” He glanced over at his son who was giving his father a dark look. Adam and Hoss were hiding grins behind their hands. I think your older brothers can demonstrate. They can show you how to do the steps and Little Joe and you can practice together.” Ben eyed each of the older boys daring them to protest. None of them were laughing now. 

“When can we start Papa? I want to learn and be good before the dance.” Sparky asked his large grey eyes dancing with excitement. 

Ben continued to eye the other boys who began to squirm   
uncomfortably. “What about tomorrow after you and Little Joe come home from school and everyone has come back from doing their work?”

Sparky jumped up and down with excitement. “Yes Papa! That would be very good!” 

Ben smiled down at his excited child. “Then your brothers will begin with your lessons.” He again eyed each of his sons and they knew they were caught. They dared not disobey Pa in this. It would be kind of fun to teach the little one anyway. 

Sparky learned to dance and it really wasn’t very hard to teach him. All the boys had a fun time, laughing and acting silly. Ben had looked in the barn a couple of times and had even joined in the teaching. Sparky looked up at his Papa.  
“Papa, I didn’t know you could dance so well! You and Adam dance good together!” He gave them a big grin and everyone else laughed until they cried. Afterward, they all went in for their supper and to enjoy the rest of the evening. 

<<<<>>>>

Jake Robbins caught up to Ben at church that Sunday. “Ben, I’ve been asked to chaperone at the Valentine’s dance. I was wondering if I could leave Sally with Hop Sing and she and Sparky could play together.”

Ben smiled at the other man. “My son was thinking of asking your daughter to the Valentine’s dance you know.” He grinned.

Jake flashed Ben a smile. “Hmm…, can the boy be trusted to act like a perfect gentleman?”

Ben grinned. “If not, it can be trusted that he’ll sport a tender behind.”

Jake laughed. “It would be rather cute to have the children come with us to the dance. They wouldn’t be too much to look after and then we wouldn’t have to worry about them.”

The two men got together and made the arrangements for their children. After church   
Ben approached his baby son.   
“Sparky, Mr. Robbins says you may take Sally to the Valentine’s dance.”

Sparky looked up at his father with great surprise. “Really Papa? He said she can go?”

“Yes. You have to be a perfect gentleman though or you’ll be punished.” 

Sparky looked down at his shoes, then looked into his Papa’s eyes. “I promise to behave Papa. May we dance?”

“Yes, you may dance and I’m glad you’re going to be a perfect gentleman.” Ben tousled the child’s hair. 

Sparky looked up at his Papa and gave him that rare grin. 

Little Joe had ended up asking April Jenkins and of course Adam would be going with Mary Ellen and Hoss with Bessie Sue. 

Sparky looked up at his Papa, “Papa, who are you bringing to the dance? Everyone has someone to bring but you. If you want I’ll share Sally with you.”

Ben grinned. He was touched that his little boy would share his date with him. “Sparky, being chaperone is a very big job and it wouldn’t be fair to bring a lady when I might not be able to spend time with her. I’ll be spending too much time making sure no one puts alcohol in the punch, that the boys and girls don’t slip off into dark corners or other places they shouldn’t be and watching out for young men who get jealous over each other’s girls and start fights.” 

Sparky listened and then thought about this. “Papa, a chaperone is kind of like being a sheriff?” 

Ben grinned, “A little like that Sparky.” 

“Then you are right Papa, it wouldn’t be right to ask a lady to the dance if you have to be like a sheriff.” The little boy looked at his father earnestly.

Ben grinned down at his son and then sent him off to play until they were ready to leave for home.

 

Chapter 18

 

On the evening of the Valentine’s dance Ben made sure Sparky took a bath. All his older brothers and his Papa had taken baths.

“Papa, why do I have to take a bath?” Sparky whined.

“Because girls don’t like to go to dances with smelly little boys. When you dance you have to get close to each other and no one likes to be close to someone who smells like the barn.” Ben explained, stripping the little mite and plopping him into the tub. He bathed the little boy good, washing his blonde hair. After his bath, Ben helped Sparky to get dressed in his Sunday suit. He really looked so very cute and adorable. Ben worried a bit what his little son would be like when he grew older. The boy’s father had been a good-looking man, but Sparky far surpassed him in looks already and Ben surmised that there would be a number of girl problems in the littlest Cartwright’s future. 

Once Ben admonished all his boys to behave themselves with their dates he got into the carriage they used for this purpose and drove to each of the young ladies homes to pick up their dates. Mary Ellen just gushed over Sparky and how cute he was. Bessie Sue was no better. April was a little surprised to see Little Joe’s little brother with them, but said nothing and When they picked up Sally Jake just smiled at the little boy standing at his door.   
Adam coached his baby brother as to what to do. He told him, “Sparky, you have to go up to the front door and knock. When you are let in you tell Mr. Robbins hello and that you are there to pick up Sally. When she comes into the room you greet her politely and tell her how nice she looks. Her father will probably say something to you about behaving and you act respectfully to him and then bring her out here to the carriage. Do you think you can do that?”

The youngster looked up at his oldest brother with some trepidation. “I can try.”

Adam smiled at him. “You’re a Cartwright, you can do it.”

Sparky did everything his oldest brother told him to do and Mr. Robbins did say to the little boy that he and Sally better behave themselves or they would both find themselves over their father’s knee. 

Adam helped Sally into the carriage and then Sparky. 

Jake Robbins had joined Ben up on the driver’s seat and the two men chatted as they drove their young people to the dance.

Once there, Adam, Hoss, Little Joe and Sparky helped their ladies out of the carriage. Of course, the oldest Cartwright brother helped the two little ones and they made an adorable couple, even if Sally was a bit taller than Sparky. 

Sparky watched his brothers and did as they did. He sat Sally down by some other girls and then brought her some punch and cookies. He stood while she sat and once the punch was consumed along with the cookies he took away the punch glass and returned, taking her by the arm and they danced. Everyone at the dance were enchanted by the children. 

“Sally, you dance very well.” Sparky told her as they danced around the floor.  
“Nicky, you dance good too. Who taught you how to dance?” She smiled at her escort.

“My brothers and Papa did. Who taught you?” Sparky grinned.

“My Daddy did. It was fun.” Sally replied her blue eyes sparkling and her blonde curls bouncing. 

When the little ones finished the dance, they sat together and watched the others around them to see how they acted. 

Ben and Jake ran interference all evening with one couple or another. They had cut off Abigail Jones several times from latching onto Adam. Ben was grateful that he didn’t really have to worry about his own boys. He saw one or the other of them watching out for each other all evening. Sally and Sparky especially were watched out for by their fathers and the littlest Cartwright’s brothers. The children had been so adorable, dancing quite well with each other and to the encouragement of everyone at the dance. 

<<<<>>>>

Sparky noticed Adam step outside with Mary Ellen and he took Sally by the hand and followed him.   
“Nicky, where are we going?” Sally asked a bit nervously.

“To see what my brother and Mary Ellen are doing.” He slipped out onto the dark porch with Sally. 

The young couple had found a dark corner of the porch and were just about to steal a kiss when Adam caught sight of his brother and his date out of the corner of his eye. They too were out on the porch. 

“Mary Ellen, don’t look now, but we have company. My little brother and his date are watching.”

“Do you mean Little Joe?” Mary Ellen asked with some concern.

“No, Sparky and Sally.” He grinned. 

Mary Ellen smiled. They stayed in their embrace and Adam watched from the corner of his eye to see what the little ones would do. 

“Sally, let’s go over here where it is a bit darker.” Sparky taking her hand led her into a darker part of the porch. Then he took her into an embrace like he saw Adam do with Mary Ellen. 

The older boy grinned broadly, not allowing his little brother to see. 

Mary Ellen stole a glance at the little children and grinned up at Adam. “Aren’t they adorable, trying to be like the grownups.” 

“Yes, but I don’t think their fathers will be very happy with us or them for that matter doing this, so I think we had better take them back inside.”

Mary Ellen smiled again, not at all put out by the turn of events. 

Adam strode over to the children and putting on a stern face asked, “Little boy, just what do you think you’re doing here in the dark? Don’t you know it’s not appropriate for someone your age to do this?” 

Sparky looked up at Adam a bit worried. “Adam, we were only doing what you and Mary Ellen were doing.” 

“Well little boy, just what did you think Mary Ellen and I were doing?” The young man continued in a stern voice.

“Umm… I don’t exactly know. You were holding each other, kind of like hugging each other, so Sally and I were doing the same thing.” Sparky looked up at his older brother.

Adam flushed a bit and was glad it was dark on the porch. “Nicky, some things that older brothers do are not to be done by younger brothers.”

“Why?” Sparky asked earnestly.

The oldest Cartwright brother knew he was caught now. “Because they’re not appropriate for someone of your age.” He scolded lightly.

“Nor for someone of your age either young man.” Ben Cartwright interjected.

Adam turned all shades of red and Sparky could see it in the dim light and grinned. He didn’t like for his oldest brother to be in trouble, but he did like to see him get caught. 

“I think it’s time all four of you return to the dance now.” The elder Cartwright said sternly.

“Yes Sir.” Adam said a bit shamefaced.

“Yes Papa.” Sparky replied taking Sally’s hand and making his way back inside. 

Ben remained on the porch and shook his head as the young people headed back into the dance. 

The dance went very well and by the end Sparky and Sally were two very sleepy children. 

Some of the families from the Silver Eagle mine had attended the dance. Linda Walker and her husband Barry had come along with Joyce Samuels and her husband Ron. Linda finally took Sparky into her lap and he fell asleep on her shoulder. She didn’t mind and neither did Barry. 

Joyce Samuels ended up holding Sally Robbins in her lap and the girl too had succumbed to sleep. 

When the dance was over Adam and Hoss brought the sleeping children out to the carriage and everyone was delivered home safely. 

 

Chapter 19

 

Sparky had begun to attend school a little bit longer. Ben started him attending one full day a week. It had been difficult at first. He’d get tired by mid-afternoon recess and lacked concentration. 

“Nicholas Cartwright! Pay attention to your Arithmetic lesson!” Miss Jones scolded as Sparky’s attention drifted. 

“Yes, Miss Jones, I’ll try, but I’m tired.” Sparky whined.

“If you want to be able to come to school full time, you’ll just have to overcome your baby ways!” Miss Jones scolded. 

The youngster looked up sharply. ‘Miss Jones had just told him he was nothing but a baby!’ The little boy teared up and began to cry. He wiped the tears away impatiently. Only babies cried and he was *not* going to be a baby! 

Little Joe had heard what Miss Jones had told the little one and was shocked. He glanced at his little brother, fully expecting him to erupt into a tantrum about being called a baby, but saw him wipe his eyes and then nothing. 

Sparky worked really hard to try to pay attention. He had not liked being told that he was a baby because he couldn’t act like the other children and grew tired by the middle of the afternoon. He was pretty quiet on the ride home after school with Little Joe. The little boy hadn’t gotten into any trouble because of his sleepiness, but had been very embarrassed by what Miss Jones had said. He just wanted to get home. 

<<<<>>>>

That evening Sparky was again very quiet. He climbed into Ben’s lap after playing for a while and cuddled. Ben held his child and wondered what was going on with him that he was feeling so insecure again.

Little Joe had forgotten all about what Miss Jones had said to Sparky that afternoon as he worked on his own schoolwork and headed up to bed. 

Ben increased the number of days a week Sparky spent full time in school one week at a time. The little boy worked hard at completing his assignments and fighting off the sleepiness that wore on him by mid-afternoon each day. The littlest Cartwright was now going full time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

One Friday afternoon the little boy had become sleepy and inattentive just before recess. 

“Nicholas Cartwright! Pay attention!” Miss Jones scolded loudly and smacked her ruler on the child’s desk, startling him, making him jump. 

“Yes Ma’am.” The youngster replied respectfully.

Miss Jones continued in a stern voice, “Since you can’t seem to pay attention young man instead of going out for afternoon recess, you will write on your slate “I will pay attention in class” twenty-five times.”

The little boy looked up in shocked surprise. He hadn’t expected his teacher to give him sentences and to have to stay in for recess. He again said nothing, just did as he was told. 

On the way home from school Little Joe was a bit worried about his little brother. There would have been a time that Sparky would have at least raised a protest about being made to write sentences and being kept in from recess, but he had accepted it without argument. Either his brother was adjusting to school and dealing with the discipline, or something was very wrong. 

Ben began to notice that his son was becoming withdrawn. The little boy would come home from school on his long days, help Little Joe with his pony and then come into the house quietly, go up to his room, do whatever homework he had and fall asleep on his bed until he woke him for supper. After supper the child play quietly with his toys for a while, then crawled into Ben’s lap and cuddle until it was time for him to go to bed. Ben wasn’t liking this at all. It was so unlike his little boy to be this way. 

When Sparky was finally in school all day everyday Ben found his child even more withdrawn. The littlest Cartwright did all the schoolwork he was given by Miss Jones without complaint. She was very happy to see this. The child was no longer resisting her, having tantrums, being argumentative or disrespectful in any way. 

<<<<>>>>

Adam was concerned about his little brother. Sparky had stopped climbing up on Blaze’s stall waiting for him to pluck him off. He did the few chores he was given by Pa or his brothers and went into the house and waited for supper to be served. He ate okay, about as usual, he never had been much of an eater. 

Hoss and Little Joe recognized there was something very different about their little brother. “Hoss, it’s very strange. He just sits there all day long doing everything Miss Jones tells him. I’ve even seen Miss Jones give him assignments he hates to do, only to see him doing them without protest or complaint. It’s good, she isn’t needing to swat him or anything, but it’s like he has no life in him. At lunch and recess all the other kids, including myself are very glad for the break, but it seems that he doesn’t much care one way or the other.” he gave a big sigh.

“It does sound very unusual for our baby brother. It appears the spark has gone out of the little mite. Even here at home I have noticed how quiet he is and how he clings to Pa every night. He doesn’t even seem to want Adam either. Something’s wrong and I hope we find out very soon what it is. I’m a bit worried too.” The large boy expressed his concerns to his younger brother. 

<<<<>>>>

One early spring day after the snow had melted, Sparky went over to his swing and swung for a very long time. He stopped only when his Papa called him to eat. 

“Did you have fun swinging?” Ben asked his son with a smile. 

“Yes Papa.” The little boy replied with a little bit of a sad look in his eye. 

“Sparky, baby, is there anything wrong?” Ben looked at his child with concern.

“*Don’t call me that!*” Sparky exploded, fire sparking in his large grey eyes.

The man was taken aback by the intensity of what his child said. “Call you what son?”

“*A Baby!*” Sparky’s stance had gone rigid and he was breathing hard like he had run from the barn all the way to the house. 

“Sparky, Papa didn’t call you a baby, you know Papa says the word baby when he wants to show you how much he’s concerned about you or how much he loves you.”

“I hate it! I hate for anyone to call me a baby! Not even you!” the distraught child shouted at his father. 

Ben went to cuddle the youngster an Sparky his whole little body rigid did not accept the comfort, turning away so his father couldn’t touch him. He held himself rigid fighting back tears, his whole stance radiating anger in waves. 

The elder Cartwright was at a loss. He wasn’t sure just what this was about now. He knew his son had always objected to the term baby, but had allowed his family to use it as an endearment. What had changed so that he wouldn’t even accept that from his Papa? 

Ben went to touch the child to give Sparky some comfort. The little boy turned with a venomous look and pushed his father away from him very hard, anger and fury still consuming him.

The Cartwright patriarch stumbled back, not expecting that reaction and shocked at the little boy’s strength. Sparky had done that to Ben only one other time, that had been in San Francisco in the restaurant they had been in the first night they had been in town. He hadn’t pushed his father that hard and Ben had reflexively swatted the child and Sparky had gone into hysterics.   
The elder Cartwright eyed his child and said in a low dangerous tone, “Little boy, *you don’t push me*.” 

Sparky stood there oozing defiance. “I’ll push you and anyone else who dares to call me a baby again. I won’t let anyone say that to me ever again!” The child shouted tears falling now and the little boy wiped them away impatiently.

Ben seeing this began to wonder just what was going on in his little son’s big smart brain. The brain that continued to get him into trouble. The little one’s Papa tried again to pull the boy into an embrace, but again Sparky stiffened and went totally rigid. The child’s father turned his son to face him and put about an arm’s length between them. 

“Nicky, what’s going on? You know that pushing me was not one of the best choices you could have made. I want to know why you are behaving this way.”

The littlest Cartwright looked down at the toes of his boots. “I’m sorry Papa, I promise, I won’t push you again.” 

Ben looked at his son. “Nicholas, look at me.” He waited for the child to comply. Once he did the little mite’s Papa reached out to pull the youngster close to him again. ”Little one, I want you to come to me.” He said gently.

His precious child complied.   
Once the boy was in his Papa’s embrace he still held himself rigid as a board. 

“Sweet Pea, I want you to tell me what has you so upset with this *baby* thing.” The elder Cartwright said, attempting to cuddle the youngster. 

The littlest Cartwright refused to look at his father and to relax in his embrace. Ben placed his son in his lap and began to rock him a little.   
“Come on Little One, tell Papa what has made you so upset. Papa doesn’t like to see his little boy this way.” Ben soothed.

Sparky began to relax a little in his Papa’s warm, secure embrace. He chanced a look at his father, seeing warmth and love in those dark brown eyes. 

“Papa, Miss Jones told me I had to overcome my baby ways if I was ever going to be able to stay at school all day.” The little mite said in a small quiet voice. Tears came then and Ben pulled the small boy to his chest and hugged him tight. When Sparky stopped crying his father asked him, “Son, when did Miss Jones say that to you?”

The child thought for a moment and then said, “It was during the first week when I began to go to school for the longer days.” 

The elder Cartwright realized that was about the time his baby son had become quieter and withdrawn. Ben seethed then with anger toward the insensitive woman. “Sweet Pea, why did she say that to you?”

“I have trouble not getting sleepy by afternoon recess. I get tired and it’s hard to concentrate. She smacked her ruler on my desk and scared me Papa. I don’t want to be a baby Papa, I want to be a big boy like the rest of the children at school!” Sparky dissolved into a torrent of tears. 

Ben had had no idea. If the child was getting tired he may not yet be totally recovered from his serious illness last summer. It had only been in the past four or five months that his son had again put on enough weight that his clothes weren’t hanging on him like a little skeleton and was again becoming the robust little boy he had been before Lyle Gibson had come barging into their lives tearing everything apart. 

“Sparky, are you still having trouble staying awake in the afternoons?” Ben asked holding the child snugly.

His son didn’t want to answer this. He knew his Papa might not let him attend school all day if he said yes. 

“Nicky, look at me, son, I asked you a question and I want an honest answer.” Ben continued to hold the child close.

“Yes Papa, I can barely keep my eyes open some afternoons.” The little boy said again in a quiet voice, tears slipping down his face. 

Ben hugged his precious child to him, not saying anything. He had to think this through. It wasn’t Sparky’s fault if he got tired. That was one of the reasons why they had only started him half days. Usually by mid-afternoon he had to take a nap. Maybe he could get Miss Jones to understand this and allow the boy a nap at recess, but realized this wouldn’t do. All the other kids would make fun of him and he surely would be called a “baby”. Ben couldn’t have Sparky falling asleep in school either. It certainly was a dilemma.

“Little one, I’m coming to school with you in the morning and I’m going to talk to Miss Jones.” Ben had decided there had to be a way to help his child stay awake without humiliating him. 

<<<<>>>>

The next day Ben went to school with his sons. He let the boys visit with their schoolmates and walked into the schoolroom.  
“Miss Jones, I’d like to have a word with you.” Ben addressed the young woman.

“Yes Mr. Cartwright. Both of your boys have been jewels lately.”

Ben eyed her. “It’s Nicholas I want to talk about. I understand you told him that he had to change his baby ways if he wanted to stay in school all day.”

“Well Mr. Cartwright, he becomes distracted and doesn’t pay attention during the afternoon session.”

“Miss Jones, that is because the child is becoming sleepy. He still tires easily after being in school and working on his lessons. I was hoping that what we could do is for you to provide a constructive distraction during the afternoon sessions and give him more of his other work in the morning when he has a better ability to concentrate because he’s not quite so tired.”

”I’ll try Mr. Cartwright, but if he falls asleep in class or continues to be distracted I’ll have to ask you to send him for only half days again.” 

Ben knew she was right. He hoped that with some restructuring of his class work, placing the things that didn’t require as much concentration in the afternoon and the more difficult subjects, requiring more concentration in the morning, would help. 

Miss Jones sighed as Ben Cartwright left the schoolhouse. She wished he didn’t have quite so much power over everything regarding the school. She didn’t really see why she had to keep adjusting her teaching format to accommodate one small child who was generally a handful to begin with. She also knew that if she didn’t she could very well be out of a job and she couldn’t afford that either. 

That day Miss Jones had the younger children work on their Arithmetic, Geography and history in the morning. In the afternoon she had them do a writing assignment, then held a spelling bee and after recess took the entire school on a nature walk. When they returned she gave the younger children a reading assignment and she noticed that the youngest Cartwright boy had done much better with the afternoon. She observed he had looked tired, and began to understand what Ben had been trying to make her aware of. 

When the little one came home from school that day he was tired, but seemed less withdrawn. 

“Sparky, how did school go today?” Ben asked ruffling the boy’s hair. 

“It was okay Papa. We went for a walk to see the buds forming on the trees and bushes after recess. It was fun. We also had a spelling bee this afternoon.” Sparky said with a yawn. 

“Sounds like things went pretty good then. Why don’t you go on up to your room and lie down for a while okay?” Ben gave his son a little push toward the house. 

“Okay Papa.” The child yawned again and headed inside. 

Miss Jones began to structure her day so that she had activities for the children in the afternoons and more teaching in the mornings as she had noticed that this style had not only benefited Sparky, but most of the children in the school. The older children were less restless in the afternoons and performed overall better. 

 

Chapter 20

 

As Spring continued to unveil its treasures Sparky seemed to settle a bit more. He swung on his swing, playing and was staying out of mischief. Ben again lifted the restriction of the child having to be supervised by someone when he was outside and the little boy was glad of this. He liked the little bit of freedom. He made sure to stay in the yard where Hop Sing could see him when he looked out, stayed away from the corral and only went to the barn with his father and brothers. He collected his eggs properly and was becoming quite good at keeping the chickens in their coop and not getting pecked by the laying hens. He kept the kindling box full as he had been asked to and the days passed. He seemed to be a happier, content child. 

Ben was with his children at breakfast and he watched to see how well Sparky was eating. The child had been doing better with this too and Ben was glad to see it. Now he just had to admonish the little one to eat. It was seldom he had to put his son in his lap to feed him more food. This particular morning however Sparky seemed out of sorts. He was pushing his food around on his plate and dawdling. Ben had had to swat him once this morning for not getting the eggs collected and the kindling box filled. The child had been defiant, stating, “I don’t want to Papa! I’m not going to do it!”  
Ben had popped him once on the backside and gave him the eye and his son had grudgingly taken care of his chores and had done them properly. 

“Nicky, finish your breakfast. You’re going to be late for school.” Ben admonished.

“I don’t want to go to school Papa. I don’t want to eat anymore. I’m done.” Sparky laid his little head down on the table. 

Ben was concerned. He pulled the child into his lap. He felt his forehead and the youngster didn’t have a fever or anything. The boy’s father was puzzled.   
“Nicky, what’s going on with you? You haven’t been acting this naughty for a long time.” Ben hugged the child to him. 

“Papa, I don’t feel very good.” The little boy stated, then dissolved into a torrent of tears. 

Ben held his child and picked him up and went out onto the porch and sitting in one of the rocking chairs rocked his son and soothed him. Easter was coming soon and the anniversary of the family he had been with having been killed in the landslide wasn’t for a while yet. Ben was mystified. He decided to not send the child to school that day. He would only be fractious and Miss Jones would capitalize on the youngster being out of sorts to assert her authority to swat the little boy and Ben didn’t want this. He wanted to find out what had his little son so upset and adding Miss Jones to the mix would not be helpful. 

Sparky eventually fell asleep in his Papa’s lap and he wrapped the little mite into a blanket and continued to hold him and rock him. Ben felt instinctively that it was what his child needed. 

Little Joe came out ready to go to school and seeing his little brother wrapped in a blanket asleep in his father’s lap asked, “Pa, should I tell Miss Jones Sparky is sick and won’t be in school today?” 

Ben looked up at his son, “Yes Little Joe, thank you. Tell her I will send him back as soon as he’s feeling better.”

Little Joe looked concerned. “What’s wrong with him Pa? He hasn’t acted like this for quite a while now.”

Ben looking at his son said, “I’m not sure, but I suspect it has something to do with some event in his life we don’t know about. Sparky himself may not really know what is bothering him, but I’ll try to find out. Don’t worry about him, I plan to stay at home with him today. Adam and Hoss can take care of anything that needs to be done and the hands can help.”

“Okay Pa.” Little Joe walked up to his father and glanced down at the sleeping bundle that was his little brother. He bent down and gave him a little kiss on his forehead and went on to school. 

The two older boys came up and Ben gave them instructions for the day. Adam asked, “Pa, can I hold him for a bit?”

Ben smiled and handed the blanket wrapped bundle to his oldest son who cuddled him in his arms. 

Hoss huddled over Adam’s shoulder to take a look at his little brother. “He sure looks like an angel when he’s asleep Pa.” He observed as Adam held the little mite in his arms. 

Sparky stirred and opening his eyes saw his oldest brother holding him. He put his fingers in his mouth and Adam gently removed them and smiled down at his baby brother. “Hey there little one. Feeling a little better?”

“No. I still feel bad.” Sparky said, tears again appearing in those large grey eyes. 

“Pa is staying home with you today Sweet Pea. Hopefully you’ll be feeling better when Hoss and I get home this afternoon.” Adam gave Sparky another kiss on his forehead and handed the child back to his father. Hoss and Adam then mounted up and took off for the lumber camp where they needed to work that day. 

<<<<>>>>

Little Joe rode on to school thinking. He was worried about his little brother. Sparky had been doing so much better the past several weeks, seeming to settle down in school as well as at home. When he got to school he informed Miss Jones his father was keeping his brother home today because he was ill. 

“I hope it’s nothing serious Joseph.” Miss Jones said as she wrote in her attendance book.

“I don’t think it is. I’m not sure, but he might be in school tomorrow.” Little Joe said, hoping this would be the case. 

Ben continued to rock the child in his lap as he had fallen asleep again. 

Once Sparky woke this time however, he didn’t want to stay wrapped up and in his father’s lap. 

Ben set the child down and Sparky headed for his toy box. He opened it and taking out his blocks played roughly and noisily with them. His father tried to work on the books, but the noise was distracting. He sat back and just watched the Littlest Cartwright play. He noticed the youngster throwing down the blocks hard, piling them up, tipping them over and making loud explosive noises. Sparky repeated this play over and over and Ben just watched. After a while, something about his son’s play struck him. He wondered at his thought and approached his child. 

“Sparky, I want to talk to you for a minute. Will you stop playing for a moment?”

The child looked up at his Papa and stopped his play. 

Ben bent down, picked up the little boy and sitting in his favorite chair, placed the child in his lap. 

“Nicky, baby, are you being bothered by what happened to your grandfather, when he was buried in the mine?” Ben asked hoping he had hit on what was bothering his little son.

Sparky looked up at Ben with a haunted look in those large grey eyes. They teared up and the little mite threw himself into his father’s arms and the tears came pouring like a heavy rain streaming down those little cheeks unchecked. The little body was wracked with hard sobs and Ben hugged Sparky to him tight and waited for the storm of emotion to run its course. He didn’t want his son to be sick from his crying, but didn’t want to stop the outpouring of emotion either. The youngster needed to grieve and to allow all this pent-up emotion to come out so his child could heal. 

Sparky cried for a very long time. Ben just held him, rubbed his back, murmured soothing things and snuggled him into his chest. His baby son eventually fell asleep in his arms tears drying on his little face. The child’s father sat by the fire holding his little boy and giving him as much comfort as he could in his grief. 

<<<<>>>>

Little Joe was distracted at school and Miss Jones scolded him sharply. “Joseph Cartwright, please pay attention. Just where are you daydreaming off to today anyway?”

“I’m sorry Miss Jones, I was just worried about my little brother being sick.” The boy explained. 

“Well I understand your concern, but you need to pay attention here young man.” She continued to scold.

“Yes Ma’am.” Little Joe forced himself to pay attention. He didn’t want a note home. Pa didn’t need that with Sparky being so upset today. 

<<<<>>>>

When The littlest Cartwright woke again Ben brought him into the wash house, washed his face and helped him blow his nose. Then he sat him on his knee and asked, “Sparky, do you want to talk about your grandfather and how he was killed in the explosion at the mine?”

The little boy shook his head no. 

“It will help if you do you know. I’m here to help you.” Ben said supportively.

“Papa, it was terrible. Grandpa was standing there in the entrance and then the loud noise and rocks and dust came down and he was gone. He wasn’t standing there anymore.” Sparky said tremulously. 

Ben soothed his son. “That was a very terrible thing to have happen baby, but your grandfather would be very happy to know you are with us and are getting to be such a big boy now, going to school all day, one of the smartest children in the class, having your own pony, having friends both here in town and at the Silver Eagle mine. He would be so proud of all your accomplishments.”

Sparky looked up at his father. “Really Papa? Would he really be proud of me?”

“Yes. He’d be proud that you kept his secret. He’d be proud that you have learned to trust your new family enough to tell us things that are hurtful or bothersome to you. You are growing up to be a sturdy good little boy.” Ben praised. 

Sparky gave his father then a mischievous grin. “Even when I’m naughty Papa?”

Ben grinned back. “Nicholas, you are always a good boy, even when you are behaving a bit naughty or when you deserve to be spanked.”

The little boy ducked his head and his father gave him a big hug. “Feeling a bit better now?”

Sparky looked up at Ben. “Yes Papa. May I go outside and play on my swing?”

“Sure, you may. After a while we’ll have some lunch and maybe we’ll take a walk together okay?”

The little boy was curious. Papa hardly ever went for a walk, but he was happy to do something with him. He went outside and played on his swing until it was time for lunch. 

Ben called the little mite in for lunch and Sparky ate pretty well. He praised him. “Looks like you’ve eaten pretty well little boy.” 

“I was hungry Papa.” Sparky told him grinning.

“Good.” When I’m through we’ll go for a little walk okay?”

“Yes Papa.” The little boy relaxed waiting for his father to finish his lunch. 

When Ben finished he pushed himself back from the table and reaching out his hand took his son’s. He helped him into his coat and pulling on his own led the little boy along a little used path.

Sparky was curious as to where his Papa was taking him. They walked for a fair distance and then came into a clearing. There was a small log cabin, seeing better days, in the middle of it. The little boy looked up at his father. “Papa, what is this?”

“I wanted to show you the cabin that your brothers Adam Hoss and I lived in before we built the ranch house we live in now.”

“Why Papa?” Sparky asked.

”Son, you’re a member of this family and you should know something about our beginnings. When Adam, Hoss and I decided we were going to settle down here after traveling on the wagon train we built this little cabin to live in. I wanted you to see it.” Ben glanced down at the little boy.

Sparky walked up to it and Ben watched him carefully. The cabin was old and was beginning to fall apart from neglect. The youngster explored for a while with his father looking on. Finally, the little mite turned and looked at Ben. “Papa, why is the cabin still here?”

The elder Cartwright smiled. “Because it was well built. We come out here sometimes just to remember.” 

“Does Little Joe know it’s here too?” The child asked.

“Oh yes. He’s been here with us many times. He knows about it all right.” The man smiled.

“Papa, why hasn’t anyone shown this to me or told me about this before now?” Sparky asked.

“We don’t come here often and so sometimes it’s forgotten.” He told his little son. I thought you’d like to see it and learn about it from me today, something you and I have together as a father and son.” Ben smiled down at the little mite.

“Papa, I like it here. It feels nice, quiet, peaceful.” The little boy looked up at his Papa.

“Yes son, It’s that all right.” Ben sat down on the rotted wooden step and pulled the youngster into his lap. 

Sparky sat there for a long while absorbing the calm and peacefulness of the place. 

Ben knew it would be like this. He himself came here from time to time to get away from the stressors of the big house. 

When the Cartwright patriarch judged that it was getting late, that Little Joe would be coming home from school and the boys would be riding in soon from the lumber camp, he took the little one’s hand and said, “Sweet Pea, it’s time we headed back now.”

Sparky looked up at Ben with those large grey eyes. “Do we have to Papa? Can’t we stay a little bit longer?” 

“No, baby, I’m sorry. The days are still short and it’ll be getting colder soon too.”

Sparky gave a great sigh. “Okay Papa.” They headed back home, hand in hand, the little boy looking much more contented. 

 

Chapter 21

 

Adam and Hoss were riding back from the lumber camp when something caught Hoss’s eye. “Hold up there Adam.” he called.

Adam reined in and turning saw his large brother dismounting and walking over to something. It was the carcass of a female rabbit.   
“She’s dead. I think there may be a den of babies around here somewhere and I want to find it.”

The older brother sighed. His younger brother’s propensity for rescuing wild animals was something he had had to put up with ever since Hoss was old enough to walk. 

The young man scanned the surrounding field spotting what he was looking for. He gently reached into the underground den and pulled out a baby bunny. They weren’t very old, they were still hairless and Hoss knew they would also be deaf. He pulled off his shirt, gathering the little animals into it and then slung it over his shoulder, mounting up, he nodded to his older brother that they could continue on their way.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Hoss, you know Pa doesn’t exactly like you bringing home all these wild critters.”

”They’re only babies and bunnies don’t hurt anything.” Hoss defended with a soulful look. 

<<<<>>>>

Ben and Sparky hadn’t been home very long when Little Joe rode in from school.

“Hi Little Joe!” Ben called, “How was school today?”

The youngster pulled up on Cochise. “It was okay Pa, but not like when Sparky is there. I missed him being at school today.”

The little one looked up at his brother. “Did you really?”

Little Joe, dismounting picked up his little brother and tossing him up into the air said, “You bet I did. You know little boy, you’re getting heavy!”

Sparky grinned. “Papa says that’s because I’m eating better.”

“Well, if you keep eating that way you just might grow to be as big as Hoss!” The other boy teased.

Sparky giggled. “I don’t think so Little Joe.”

“You look like you’re feeling a whole lot better than you did this morning little brother.”   
His brother observed.

“I am Little Joe. Papa and I talked about my grandfather being killed at the Green Backs Mine.” A shadow fell across the little boy’s face for a moment and a tear escaped one of those big grey eyes. The little mite wiped it away and said, “Papa showed me the cabin today where He, Hoss and Adam lived when they came west with the wagon train.” The littlest Cartwright told his older brother excitedly.

“That was wonderful Sparky. It’s a really great place isn’t it?” Little Joe asked the little mite.

“Yes, it really is peaceful. I liked being there.” 

“Sometimes we take a picnic and go there, I like it too.” The other boy tousled his brother’s hair. “Well Sparky, I got to take care of Cochise now. I’ll talk to you some more when I come in okay?”

“Okay Little Joe.” The little boy gave his older brother a quick hug and headed up to the house with his father. 

Before they could reach it, Hoss and Adam came riding in. Ben saw a bundle hanging on Hoss’s shoulder and groaned. What had the boy brought home now? 

He approached his son and reached up for the bundle so Hoss could dismount.   
“Son, what have you got here?” Ben asked.

“Baby bunnies Pa. Their mama was killed and I’m going to help them to grow up.” Hoss declared.

Ben peeked into the bundle and saw the hairless squirming little bodies. 

Sparky came up and standing on tiptoe tried to look into the bundle his father held. 

“Easy there son, let me show you.” His Papa lowered the bundle so his little boy could see. 

“Papa, they don’t look like bunnies. They don’t have any fur!” Sparky observed. 

“That’s because they’re still too young. They will get fur real soon though.” Ben explained patiently to the youngster. 

“Can I touch them?” the child asked reaching out a finger. 

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea right now son. They’re very delicate. When they get a little older I’m sure if you ask Hoss very nicely he’ll let you hold one then.” The little mite’s Papa told him.

Sparky looked a little disappointed, but didn’t touch the little things. 

Hoss placed them in a small cage and after taking care of Chub saw to the baby rabbits. 

The next day Sparky went back to school as he was feeling better. Miss Jones asked, “Nicky, are you feeling better today?”  
“Yes Ma’am, thank you for asking.”

“Good, you’ll need to make up the class work you missed yesterday.” Miss Jones wrote some Arithmetic problems on the child’s slate and handed it to him. 

He gave the slate a dark look as he saw the number of problems Miss Jones had written on his slate. There were at least twice as many as usual. 

The teacher, seeing the look the youngster gave the slate said, “Nicholas, I don’t expect you to have a tantrum about this. I don’t want you to get behind and I’m very sure your Papa would not be very happy if you don’t complete your school work.”

Sparky sighed, knowing Miss Jones was right and set to doing his work. 

By recess the little mite was getting pretty upset. Miss Jones had doubled every assignment she had given him. He wasn’t used to having to work this hard. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do the work, he certainly was bright enough, it was just that he wasn’t used to having to catch up and was getting annoyed that he didn’t have extra time to just sit and do nothing for a little while. 

At recess Little Joe, recognizing his little brother’s tantrum warning signs went over to where he was talking to his desk mate Patrick. 

“Patrick, I hate her. She’s giving me double assignments in everything! It isn’t fair!” the little one complained.

“Well, Nicky, you do have to make up the work. It’s only a day’s work. She could have made you make up all the work you missed while you went with your Pa to San Francisco you know.” The boy’s desk mate stated, a bit annoyed with his friend. 

“No, she wouldn’t have done that because my brother tutored me the whole time and I was way ahead of everyone else when I got back.” The littlest Cartwright said smugly.

Little Joe hearing this understood what his little brother’s problem was. He had never had to make up work. He had had his own way regarding school work for too long a time. “Sparky,” the boy’s older brother said, “Everyone has to make up the work they miss. When I have to stay home from school for a couple of days, when I come back the teacher gives me extra work to do too. The only time she doesn’t do that is when we’re snowed in and Adam is teaching us because she knows he will keep us caught up with our school work. I suggest you don’t have a tantrum about this and just do the work your given.” Little Joe eyed his little brother. 

Sparky turned to his older brother surprise on his little face. He felt betrayed now. His own brother was taking Miss Jones side in this. “But Little Joe, it’s too much work!” 

“Sparky, did you finish your work before recess?” the older boy asked, still eyeing his little brother.

The little boy looked down at the tips of his boots now. “Well… yes.” 

“Then Miss Jones is not giving you too much work. You just aren’t used to working so hard is all.” Little Joe told him sternly. 

The little boy then gave his older brother a hateful look. 

“Don’t look at me that way little brother. If you have a tantrum about this I hope Miss Jones swats you and sends a note home to Pa. Then I’ll tell him about your bad attitude!” Little Joe warned. 

Sparky looked at the older boy then, “I’m sorry.” 

Little Joe then bent down, picked up his little brother and hugged him tight. “You’re forgiven Sweet Pea. I just don’t want to see you making trouble for yourself where there is none. Miss Jones is treating you just as she would anyone of us students. Sometimes I think Pa spoils you.” He set the little boy down. 

Sparky had a hurt look on his little face. “Do you think I’m spoiled?”

“Sometimes.” His brother answered honestly.

The little boy thought about this as the bell rang and Miss Jones called the children back in from recess. He did the work he was given and didn’t give Miss Jones any problems about it. He didn’t want to be looked at as a spoiled child. No one liked a spoiled child. He had learned that shortly after coming back to his family when he had stayed with Winnemucca and his father had allowed him to become spoiled. 

Little Joe was glad to see his little brother stop being petulant and doing what he was told. 

<<<<>>>>

As Easter drew closer Sparky saw Hoss’s little bunnies growing. They had fur now and they had pink noses and pink little eyes. They were all white and Sparky itched to be able to hold one. 

Hoss came into the barn and seeing the little boy’s curiosity showed Sparky how to pick up the rabbit by its ears. 

“Hoss, doesn’t that hurt them?” he looked horrified at his older brother picking up the little bunnies by their ears. 

“Naw Sweet Pea. It’s the safest way to pick them up so they won’t get hurt and they won’t hurt ya either.” Hoss walked over to his little brother. “Put out yar hands.” 

The child did as his brother told him and Hoss placed the small soft furry creature into his little brother’s hands. The youngster was surprised at how soft the bunny was and could feel its little heart beating fast. He petted it gently with his finger and the little creature’s heart rate slowed as it became accustomed to the child holding it. “Hoss, it’s really soft.”

“Yes, it is little brother. Many baby creatures are. When you were a baby ya had really soft skin too.” 

Sparky blushed. How do you know?”

“Because when Little Joe was a baby he did, so it goes without saying that yars would have been soft too.”

“Oh.” The little boy continued to hold the small creature. 

After a bit Hoss said, “Sparky, it’s time to put the bunny back in with its siblings.”

The youngster looked up at his big brother. “What are sib… sib…”

“Siblings. That means brothers and sisters. You, me, Adam and Little Joe are siblings.” Hoss informed him.

“Oh. The bunny is going back with its brothers and sisters. How do you know which ones are brothers and which ones are sisters?”

The young man turned all shades of red at his little brother’s question. “It’s kind of hard when the bunnies are this young, but ya can tell by looking at their private parts. Boy bunnies will have a penis, girl bunnies don’t” Hoss hoped this would be as far as his little brother would take this topic.

“Where are their private parts?” The little boy asked.

Hoss again blushed red. “Sparky, it’s hard to explain and I’m not sure Pa would like me to show ya at your age. Let’s just say that I know where to look and what to look for. I’ll let ya know when they’re old enough which ones are boys and which ones are girls.” 

“Okay.” The littlest Cartwright then dropped the subject and the older boy was relieved. 

Hoss took the little furry creature from his baby brother and put it in its cage. 

Adam, being in the barn and hearing Sparky asking his brother about boy and girl bunnies was very glad it was not him who was asked those questions this time. 

When the little mite left the barn to go up to the house Adam came around the stall and clapped Hoss on the shoulder. “I see you dodged the sex bullet this time brother.” Grinning at him.

“Adam, ya hush or I’ll pound ya.” Hoss warned with a slightly annoyed look. 

The older boy said no more, but just grinned. 

<<<<>>>>

The night before Easter it got cold and rainy. Sparky laid in his bed worried about Hoss’s bunnies. He didn’t want them to be scared or cold. He slipped out of his bed, dressed only in his nightshirt. The little boy shivered as it was cold. He put on his slippers and slipped out of his room and into the kitchen. Retrieving the basket, he used for the eggs the child took it with him to the barn. He unlatched the cage and picking each bunny up by its ears like Hoss had done put them in the basket. When he had them all he carried the basket full of the furry creatures to his room. Then he placed the little things in bed with him and fell asleep, content and believing the little creatures were now safe and warm. 

 

Chapter 22

 

In the morning when Ben opened the door to his youngest son’s room to wake him, help him wash, send him to collect the eggs, fill the kindling box and then to help him get ready for church was startled when several little bunnies hopped out of his room.  
He made to grab a couple, but they were very fast and Ben missed them. In moments six baby bunnies were scurrying all over the upper floor of the house hopping in all directions. “Hoss! The elder Cartwright bellowed and the young man’s door to his room flew open. “Get those bunnies out of here!” Ben cried.

The large boy was shocked to see little furry bunnies hopping all over the place. “Yes Sir.” Hoss said and began moving quickly to capture as many of the little critters as he could. 

Ben strode into Sparky’s room. The little boy was awake now and sitting up in bed wide eyed and his little mouth in a “O” shape. “Papa, where are all the bunnies?” He asked.

“They all hopped out into the hall when I opened your door! Young man, how did those bunnies get into your room?” The child’s father asked, his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Last night I went out to the barn and gathered them up and brought them to my room. They were cold and frightened Papa and being today’s Easter, I wanted them to be okay.” The little boy explained, looking up at his father worried now that they were all gone. 

Ben sighed. “Well, let’s get you washed up so you can go collect the eggs and fill the kindling box for Hop Sing. Hoss is collecting the bunnies and will put them back in the barn.”

The boy had captured four of the bunnies when his father and little brother emerged from Sparky’s room, the child holding the egg basket he had brought the bunnies up to his room in and was in the process of capturing a fifth one when they came into the hall. Hoss snagged the little creature and had only one more to go. He gave the Littlest Cartwright a look and the youngster worried that his brother was mad at him for bringing the bunnies to his room. 

Adam was standing in his doorway observing his large brother capturing the little creatures with a smirk on his face. Seeing his baby brother and Pa come out of Sparky’s room, he went back into his own room to get ready to take care of the barn chores and to give his brother a hand if needed. 

Little Joe too had come out to see what all the commotion was about. He grinned to see Hoss cornering bunnies. He too scurried back into his room when he saw his father entering the hall with his little brother. He had a feeling Sparky was behind the bunny fiasco and didn’t want to be around if fireworks erupted. 

Once Hoss had rounded up the bunnies and placed them back where they belonged he was relieved. He wondered how they had gotten into the house to begin with. 

When the little boy had finished collecting the eggs and took care of the kindling box Hoss called the child to him. “Sparky, would ya care to explain how all those bunnies got into the house?”

The little one told his older brother about how he had gone to the barn in the night and gathered the little creatures and brought them back to the house and placed them into his bed before he went to sleep. “Hoss, I thought they would snuggled down in my bed and stay there. I didn’t think they would hop out and go all over the place.” The little mite looked down at his shoes.

“Sweet Pea, I’m not mad at ya. I’m glad ya were concerned about the animals. Next time ya talk to me about it first, Okay?” The older boy told his baby brother.

“Yes Hoss. I’m sorry.” 

The large boy just gave the little boy a hug. “I think Pa wants to talk to ya more about this little one, so let’s go find him.” Hoss took the little boy by the hand and brought him to his father. 

Ben was sitting in the dining room waiting for breakfast. 

“Papa, Hoss said you wanted to talk to me.” Sparky said, approaching his father. 

“Yes, Little One, I’m not going to punish you for this son because you were trying to do something nice. I will however punish you if there is a repeat of this incident. You ask Hoss for help when you are concerned about any animal. He can guide you correctly and then you’ll stay out of mischief. Okay?”

“Okay Papa, I’ll be sure to talk to him first from now on.” Sparky hugged his Papa. 

Ben returned the hug. “Very good. Now, there is just one thing we need to address little boy.” Ben eyed his little son sternly.

“Yes Papa?” Sparky felt a bit nervous by the way his Papa was looking at him.

“Young man, are you supposed to leave the house at night and without telling anyone?” he asked crossing his arms over his chest, eyeing the boy.

“Umm… No Papa. I’m not supposed to do that.” The youngster hung his head.

“Okay, then, being you know you broke that rule we will take care of that and you may begin over again.” Ben flipped his little boy over his knee and administered six hard swats to the child’s bottom.

“Oooh! Papa! That hurts!” Sparky wailed.

“Yes, baby, I know. I hope you will think about not leaving the house at night again without telling anyone in the future.” He then hugged the little mite and Sparky melted into his father’s arms. “Let’s get you ready for breakfast and church now.”

“Yes Papa.” Sparky snuggled into Ben as he carried him back up to his room. 

Once breakfast was finished they all headed off to church. Once there Sparky went off to talk to Sally Robbins and some of the other children. “Sally, my Papa wasn’t very happy that I put the bunnies in my bed.” 

She smiled at him. “Did your Papa spank you for it?”

The little boy blushed, “No. He did swat me for leaving the house at night without permission.”

She smiled then. “Sparky, you sure know how to get into the most interesting mischief.”

The littlest Cartwright grinned at her then too. Ben then signaled Sparky to come join him and they all went into the church. 

After services the Cartwrights went home and Hop Sing had made a very nice dinner for them.   
Sparky looked with amazement at the pink colored eggs by each place. He wondered how they had become that color. He did not know that Hop Sing had soaked them in beet juice with some vinegar in order to create the color. 

“Papa!” The little one exclaimed. ”How did the eggs turn pink?”

Ben smiled down at his little boy’s amazement. “Well Sparky, I think it’s Hop Sing’s little secret. Each year he places these pink eggs by our places at Easter dinner.” he reminded the child

“I remember now, it’s still a surprise to see them like this Papa.” Sparky said, looking up into those chocolate eyes, smiling in amazement. 

Ben grinned and tousled his son’s hair. “It is amazing isn’t it?” 

The little mite peeled his eggs and ate them as did the rest of the family and the day passed peacefully.

 

Chapter 23

 

Ben, Adam and Hoss rolled their gun belts each evening or whenever they entered the house, placing them on the credenza without any thought, as this was something they had done for a very long time. Little Joe had been taught from an early age to never touch them and so they had no reason to worry. Sparky too had not bothered with the guns either and so there was no thought to leaving them where little curious hands could get to them. 

One day the little one was walking past the credenza where the guns and gun belts lay and they caught his eye. He had seen his Papa and brothers wear them every day and had never really thought about them. He was curious about them now. He walked over to the credenza and standing on tiptoe pulled the nearest one toward him. He picked it up, noticing that it was pretty heavy and sitting down by the hearth put it in his lap to examine it. It happened to be Hoss’s gun and gun belt. Sparky poked at the bullets lodged in the loops. He was able to dislodge a few of them and he put them in his hand and felt them. Then he picked up the heavy pistol. He felt it’s weight and picking it up in both hands, pointed it at the fireplace and pulled the trigger. The report was loud and the kick hard, knocking the child over. 

Ben, resting in his room came up out of his bed at the sound of a gunshot downstairs. He   
ran for the stairs, not knowing what had happened. Adam and Hoss, working in the yard   
came running as well. Little Joe, hearing a gun go off at the house came running from the barn to see what was going on and Hop Sing ran in from hanging out laundry 

Little Sparky lay on his back shocked at what had happened. 

Ben the first to arrive on the scene saw his little boy laying on his back a gun by his side. He rushed to the littlest Cartwright, fearful that someone had shot the little mite. He examined his child as Hop Sing, Adam and Hoss rushed into the house followed shortly by Little Joe. 

“Is he all right Pa?” Adam asked shaking a little.

“What happen to little boy?” Hop Sing asked, trying to get close to the child to examine him.

“Pa! Is he hurt?” Hoss exclaimed, trying to get closer to see.

“Pa! What happened? Is Sparky hurt?” Little Joe cried, worried, seeing his little brother lying on the floor. 

“He seems to be all right. There’s no blood.” Ben answered, looking up at the anxious faces surrounding him. 

“What happened Pa?” Hoss asked quite shaken as he saw his pistol lying by his little brother’s side. 

Sparky stared, seeing nothing. The loud sound had stunned him, reminding him of the explosion that killed his grandfather at the Green Backs Mine. 

Ben seeing the little boy was unhurt picked him up and cuddled him in his lap, sitting on his favorite chair. “Baby, tell Papa what happened.” 

Sparky shuddered. Then tears began and the little mite buried his face in his Papa’s chest where they fell hot and heavy. His son cried very hard and he held him. 

As he examined the scene he put everything together and realized his baby son had been handling and playing with his brother’s gun. 

“Hoss, please pick up your gun and gun belt and put it back where it belongs. We will be having a little discussion about leaving live bullets in a firing chamber.” 

The boy looked at his father and then understanding dawned and he did as he was asked. 

Hop Sing, Adam and little Joe, seeing their Pa had things under control now went back to their various tasks.

Ben continued to comfort his baby. Once the child was calm he would need to talk to him about gun safety and then punish him for touching what he wasn’t supposed to.   
It took a long time for the little boy to quit crying and shaking. 

“Sparky, son, I want you to tell Papa what happened.” Ben prompted gently.

The little one looked up at his Papa and seeing love in those dark brown eyes took a shaky breath and said, “Papa, it made a loud noise.”

“What made a loud noise Sparky?” Ben asked patiently. 

“The gun Papa. I pointed it toward the fireplace and pulled the trigger. I didn’t know it would make that sound and that it would throw me over.” The child dissolved into a puddle of tears. 

The elder Cartwright continued to hold his son until the tears stopped. “Sparky, son, you and I will have to have a serious discussion about guns and gun safety little boy.” Ben hugged the child tight. 

“Yes Papa. Papa, are you mad at me?” Sparky asked worriedly.

“No, I’m not mad at you, but I will be teaching you that playing with a loaded gun is not a good idea Little boy.” 

Sparky still snuggled up to his father shaking from his fright. 

Ben was patient. He wanted the boy to be calm enough to understand what happened and that it shouldn’t ever happen again. 

Once the child had calmed, he asked, “Sparky, what possessed you to touch one of the guns?”

“I wanted to see how it worked.” The little one told his father. 

“Why didn’t you ask me or one of your brothers?” Ben eyed his child.

“I don’t know Papa. I just thought it would be interesting to see for myself how the gun worked. I didn’t know when I pulled the trigger it would be so loud or that it would knock me over.” The little boy said tearfully.

“So, you found out the hard way that you shouldn’t be touching and trying to figure out things you know very little to nothing about.” Ben told the little tyke. 

“Yes Papa.” Sparky said with some trepidation. 

Ben set the little boy down and went over to the credenza. He picked up his own gun belt, with his gun and brought it over to the child. He sat down on the floor with Sparky and showed him the gun belt, explained its purpose. The purpose of the holster, the way the bullets sat in their loops and why they were there. He then showed his little son the gun. He told him about the chambers, how the bullets got into them and how to take the gun apart and put it back together to be cleaned. He answered the little one’s questions and once he was finished said to the child, “Sparky, I don’t ever want you to touch one of the guns again without asking permission first do you understand? It’s very dangerous and it’s not a toy. A gun can actually kill. From now on, if you see a gun of *any* kind, even a rifle, lying anywhere, you are *not* to touch it, but come find me, Adam, Hoss, Hop Sing, Little Joe, or any other adult and tell us about it. You should leave the area, no matter where you find it. If it’s in the street, on the ground, in the barn, the floor in the house, no matter where. Is that understood?” 

“Yes Papa. I promise to never touch a gun again.” 

Ben hugged the little mite to him and then said, Sparky, I’m going to spank you for this. I want you to remember this lesson for a very long time.”

Tears came to the little boy’s eyes. “Please Papa, don’t spank me. I promise, I won’t ever touch any gun again without asking.”

“I’m sure you won’t little boy, but this will ensure that you’ll remember your promise and the lesson.” Ben then picked up his child and brought him up to his room. Once there He closed the door and asked, “Sparky, do you know why you are getting this spanking?”

“Yes Papa, for playing with and shooting a gun when I wasn’t supposed to.” 

“Very good. “Ben then pulled the child over his lap and getting directly to the seat of the problem, landed hard swats to his little bottom, making very sure that his son wouldn’t forget very soon the consequences of playing with a gun, loaded or not. 

When he was through, he held his child in his arms and comforted him.   
“Baby, I didn’t want to do that, but you needed to learn this lesson. You won’t ever play with a gun, will you?”

“No Papa!” Sparky wailed, having learned this lesson thoroughly. 

“Good.” He continued to comfort his baby son, pulling the child into his lap, hugging him and forgiving him. When the little mite fell asleep Ben tucked him into bed. 

When Ben came down into the great room Adam, Hoss and Little Joe were all there looking at him.

“He’s okay. A little sore in the sitting department, but okay now.” Their father said tiredly. 

All three of his sons nodded and felt better for all of it. Their little brother was unhurt, except for a sore bottom, Pa had explained about guns and gun safety and they could go on again. 

Ben gave his son a serious look. “Hoss, I want you to come over to my desk. I have some questions for you young man.”

The boy didn’t like the look in his Pa’s eyes. “Yes Sir.”   
The father and son walked over to his desk. Adam and Little Joe absented themselves. They didn’t want to be in the line of fire. 

Sitting down at the desk with Hoss settled in the chair beside it Ben looked at his large son and asked, “Son, why was a live bullet in the firing chamber of your gun? When I was teaching you to shoot I emphasized with all of you boys the importance of an empty firing chamber. Can you tell me why that is important Hoss?” Ben asked sternly

The young man gulped and turning a bit red answered, “So it wouldn’t accidentally fire.” 

“Exactly. Can you tell me why you decided to disobey this rule?” The Cartwright Patriarch asked sternly. 

Hoss looked down at his boot tips. “No reason Pa. Some of my friends and I were talking and thought it would be a good idea to keep all firing chambers loaded in case of an unexpected attack or confrontation. It was thought that it would take too much time to turn the barrel before you could return fire if someone shot at you.”

Ben looked at his son with frustration and disappointment. “Hoss, I know you need your weapon for self-defense in these parts, but you know as well as I do that it takes less than a second to turn your barrel if your gun is clean and well oiled.”

The young man hung his head. “Yes Sir, I’m sorry Pa. I won’t do that anymore.”

“You had better not. You’re not following the rules could have gotten your baby brother hurt or even killed today. Gun safety rules are made for a purpose. They’re not to be disregarded. Do you understand?” Ben told his son.

Tears began to fall. Hoss had never meant for his little brother to get hold of his gun and fire it.

“Young man, we need to finish this discussion in the barn.” Ben informed his large adolescent child.

Hoss got up from the chair. “Yes Sir.”

Ben led the way to the barn. Adam and Little Joe were working with some of the horses in the corral. They tried not to look as Pa and Hoss made their way to the barn. Ben closed the door and led the way to the hay bales in the back of the barn.

“Hoss, do you understand why your being punished?” His father asked.

“Yes Pa, for not following gun safety rules.” He replied sadly.

“Well, son, you know what to do.” Ben indicated the bales of hay.

“Yes Sir.” The boy prepared himself and bent over the hay bales.

When Ben was through Hoss too had learned the same lesson as his little brother had about the importance of gun safety. 

The next day Ben had pegs inserted into the wall where they now hung their gun belts out of the reach of curious little boys. 

Sparky was a bit sore for the next day or so, but he never did touch a gun again until Ben taught him how to handle one and shoot. The littlest Cartwright always remembered the hard lesson he had learned, including the hard spanking his father had given him. It had been one of the hardest spankings the youngster had ever had, but it had made its point. 

Hoss too wasn’t sitting too comfortable and never forgot his lesson in gun safety either. The prospect of his baby brother getting accidentally shot and killed scared him enough that he always practiced gun safety strictly. 

 

Chapter 24

 

Things again settled down for the Cartwright family. Sparky continued to behave well, doing well in school, playing well with his toys and interacting with is brothers daily.   
Ben was glad to see the little mite settling down and life was good. 

<<<<>>>>

As the weeks went by Sparky was upset one day in mid-May. Ben was prepared this time. He knew that it was the anniversary of the landslide that had killed the family his son had been sent from the mine with. The little boy had awakened feeling out of sorts.” Papa,  
I don’t want to collect the eggs. I don’t want any breakfast and I don’t want to go to school!” 

Ben picked up his child. He sure was getting heavy now. He put him in his lap and said, “Sparky, I know this is the day of the landslide and it’s got you out of sorts little boy.”

The youngster clung to his Papa and cried hot tears. 

Ben just cuddled him and crooned to him. Once the little boy was a bit more settled he said, “Sparky, you and I will be spending the day together. I think today we will take an overnight trip and visit the Green Backs Mine.” 

No Papa! I don’t want to go there!” His son wailed in sudden panic.

“Baby, I think it’s time you did. You haven’t been there since before I adopted you and that was almost two years ago. You need to visit and see how much things there have changed so you won’t think of it like it was, but see it as it is now.”

“Yes Papa.” Sparky said sadly, not overly enthusiastic at the prospect. 

Ben wondered if he was doing the right thing, but knew the child had to lose his fear of the mine of which he was the sole owner. The Green Backs mine produced both gold and silver and was one of the richest veins in the area. His son didn’t realize it, but he was one very rich little boy. He could buy anything he could ever want, but his father didn’t want the little one to be spoiled. Therefore, he didn’t tell the child of his extreme wealth. He did however want him to come to not be afraid of being at the mine as one day he would need to take care of it and its operation if the veins of gold and silver didn’t mine themselves out before he reached adulthood. According to the assayers the mine wouldn’t mine itself out for a very long time. Sparky didn’t have to know all that though and he was going to make sure that it was kept that way until his child was old enough to understand and take on that responsibility. That wouldn’t be for at least another twelve years if he had his way. 

Ben wondered if it would be helpful to have Mike Calahan or Barry Walker accompany them to the mine. Maybe it would make it easier for the little boy to have miners he knew with him, but decided that his son would have to try this alone. He trusted the people he had running the Green Backs mine at the present time, but Sparky didn’t really know anyone personally from the mine. He knew people’s faces, those who had been kind to a little waif of a toddler who took handouts from their cook fires. Although he hadn’t known it, the women of the mine protected him the best they could from the villains and being made to work inside the mine, which could have caused his death. 

The elder Cartwright thought it was time that his child got to know Ed, Carol and Teddy Jamison, along with Earl, Sally and Tim Brinks on a more personal level. He wasn’t too sure just how the boys would get along, but knew their fathers wouldn’t put up with any nonsense. 

Sparky was sulky and pouty while Ben helped him to pack saddle bags for an overnight trip. “Papa, I don’t want to go. Why can’t I just go to the Silver Eagle mine and visit with Gregory and Christopher?” 

“Because Papa wants you to get to know the people at the Green Backs mine too. I don’t want you to be afraid anymore of either the people there or being there. It’ll help with your nightmares and fears.” 

“No, it won’t! It’ll only give me more nightmares! I don’t want to remember anything about that place! I don’t know why you’re making me do this!” Sparky shouted at Ben. 

The man was prepared for the tantrum he knew would erupt and just said reasonably, “Nicholas, I want you to do this because it’s important that you do it. I don’t want you to be afraid anymore.”

”I don’t understand how this is supposed to make me not feel afraid anymore Papa!” The little boy again shouted, tears of frustration falling this time. 

“Trust me baby, Papa knows what is best for you little boy.” Ben told him, gathering his child into his arms and comforting him, drying his tears. 

Sparky gave a great big sigh. “Okay Papa, but I can’t guarantee how I’ll behave once we get there.” The child warned.

“Well young man, I can guarantee that if you don’t behave as expected that you will feel my hand on your bottom.” Ben tousled the boy’s hair.

Sparky colored then, his fair skin taking on a rosy glow. “Yes Papa.” 

Once they were prepared the two mounted up and they rode on to the Green Backs mine. It was a bit of a long ride and Ben took enough breaks so his small son wouldn’t get sore from riding too long. 

When they arrived, it was late afternoon. Ben now knew which cabins were the Jamison’s and the Brink’s. As they approached the mine Sparky’s large grey eyes rounded and widened and he pulled up his pony. 

Ben seeing this, pulled up Buck. “Sparky, are you, all right?” Ben inquired concerned.

“Papa, this looks like the Silver Eagle mine! Where did all the tents and cook fires go?” Sparky asked amazed.

Ben grinned then. “They’re gone. The people here now live in cabins like the people at the Silver eagle. I told you things here have changed greatly. I know you didn’t get a chance to come here with your daddy and that he took you to the Golden Nugget which was more like the Green Backs used to be. When I took over the running of this mine I decided I would make improvements and that it would be more like the Silver Eagle mine.”

“Do they have a school here like the Silver Eagle?” Sparky asked. 

“Yes, Nancy Witherspoon, one of Mrs. Witherspoon’s daughters teaches here. Do you remember her? She nursed you when you were recovering from the carriage accident that killed your aunt Millicent.” Ben asked, not wanting to bring up any bad memories, but wanting his child to know and understand the roots of the changes that had occurred here.

Sparky thought for a moment and then remembered a snuggly woman who smelled like Hop Sing’s cookies. “Yes Papa, I remember her now.”

“Well, I want you to know that it was Mrs. Jamison and Mrs. Brinks who brought it to my attention that the children here at the mine had no opportunity to go to school. I set up the school here and because I thought it was a really good idea set up Miss Travis to come to the Silver Eagle and teach the children there too.”   
Sparky grinned a little then. “I hope Miss Witherspoon doesn’t have a paddle in her schoolroom like Miss Travis does.” 

The little boy’s father grinned. “I would bet she does and that she knows how to use it as well as Miss Travis did.” 

Sparky blushed, remembering the paddling Miss Travis had given him at the Silver Eagle school for fighting in the schoolroom with his desk mate, Christopher Samuels for calling him a baby. It was how he and Christopher met and then became good friends. 

Ben pulled up in front of the Jamison’s and Carol, seeing Ben and the little boy with him was surprised. She hadn’t seen Sparky since he was there last almost two years ago and was amazed at how robust the little one was now. He looked full of life and mischief.   
“Hello Mr. Cartwright! Hello, Nicky!” Mrs. Jamison called.

“Hello Carol. Nicky and I have come to visit. I hope you have room for us? We hoped to be able to stay overnight.” Ben explained.

“Why of course! Teddy will be very surprised to see Nicky too!” She bent down and picked up the little boy and said, “My goodness, you sure have grown some and how heavy you are! Mr. Cartwright must be feeding you good.”

Sparky smiled his shy smile at her. “No, It’s Hop Sing’s cooking.” He told her and Ben laughed. 

Carol put the youngster down then and the elder Cartwright and Nicky went into the cabin with her. “Ed is down in the mine and Teddy’s in school right now, but you’re welcome to sit for a bit. “I’ll make some tea and I’m sure I can find some cookies and milk for Nicky here.” 

Sparky was a bit uncomfortable with being called “Nicky” and a little nervous about being at the mine in the first place.

Ben seeing the nervousness of his son put him in his lap and hugged him. Nicky snuggled into his Papa and this did not go unnoticed by Carol. She placed some cookies and a glass of milk in front of Ben and he slid Sparky into a chair next to him and slid the cookies and milk in front of the boy. He didn’t want to embarrass the youngster by making him eat while sitting in his lap unless it became necessary. 

Sparky picked up one of the cookies and carefully picked up the glass and drank his milk. 

While Ben and his son were occupied Carol said, “I’m going to run over to Sally Brinks and let her know the two of you are here. Earl is also in the mine and Tim too is in school. I know they’ll want to see Nicky here.”

Ben nodded as she pulled off her apron and left the cabin.

Sparky looked up at Ben. “Papa, I don’t like all these people staring at me.”

The man smiled at the little boy. Sparky, baby, they haven’t seen you in a while and you do look so much better than when you lived here. I’m sure that there will be many other people who will want to see you and who will be amazed at how much you have changed.” 

“But, Papa, I don’t want to be the center of attention!” The littlest Cartwright cried and put his face in his Papa’s lap and hid there. 

Ben stroked the little boy’s hair and said gently, “Sparky, son, these people all took care of you and want to see the wonderful little boy you have grown into from the toddling child they knew two years ago. It won’t be for long, I promise.” 

The little boy sat up then and finished his cookies and milk.

<<<<>>>>

“Sally, you won’t believe it, Mr. Cartwright has come and he’s brought little Nicky with him. You won’t believe the change in that child. He’s grown some and put on weight. He’s so cute and adorable!” Carol gushed.

“You’re kidding Carol, I’ve got to come over and see him!” Sally pulled off her apron and followed her friend back to her cabin. When Sally stepped in and saw the adorable little boy sitting at Carol’s table eating cookies and drinking milk she was amazed. 

“Nicky, my goodness child! You’ve changed so much! You’re a regular little boy now, no more the wisp of a toddler coming around to our cook fires to grab a morsel of food. Someone has been feeding you well little boy!”

Sparky flushed at this and said, “Hop Sing feeds me well and Papa makes sure I eat enough.” 

“well young man, it shows. You sure look a whole lot more sturdy than you did two years ago.” Sally told him. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Brinks.” Sparky returned politely.

She smiled broadly at the boy. “Goodness, good manners and all! I’m sure impressed.” 

Ben related, “I wouldn’t have any of my sons any other way. All my boys have been raised to be polite to adults.” He directed a proud smile at his little son. 

Sally brinks smiled at the man. “Mr. Cartwright, you’ve done a remarkable job with the boy.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Brinks.” Ben again smiled at his little boy. 

“I knew you would when Carol told me about the first time you smacked his little bottom good when you came to the mine and he misbehaved.” Sally related.

Ben remembered that time and apparently so did his son from the way he colored in his little face. 

“Mr. Cartwright, you have been a man of your word, both in the way you have helped us here at the mine and now with our little Nicky.” Sally Brinks said, smiling at them both.

He smiled at the woman. 

“Oh, I need to run. Timmy will be coming home from school soon and I need to be home. It’s been nice seeing you and I’m sure we’ll see you again.” 

“I’m certain that you will Mrs. Brinks.” Ben said, smiling at the woman, as she left for her own cabin and family.

 

Chapter 25

 

When the two women left the cabin, Ben took his little boy into his lap and got eye contact with his son. “Sparky, I don’t want you starting any fights with Teddy or Timmy is that understood? I want to remind you of the bargain you and I have about you starting fights because someone calls you a “baby”. I did bring the hairbrush with me and I won’t hesitate to apply it if needed.” He reminded the littlest Cartwright.

“Yes Papa, I’ll try real hard to not start or get into any fights while we’re here. I don’t want to get the hairbrush. That hurts.” Sparky said wholeheartedly.

Ben smiled down at his child and tousled his hair. “I’ll hold you to that little boy.” 

“Yes Papa, I know you will.” Sparky said, giving him a small shy smile. 

Ben just hugged him and gave him a kiss on his forehead. 

In a while Teddy came in from school. Carol had returned to the cabin and Ben and Sparky were sitting in the main room of the cabin talking to her as she prepared both a place for her guests to stay and dinner for them all. Teddy came bursting into the room and tossing his school books on the table called, “Ma, I’m home!”

Carol gave her son a look and said, “Teddy, pick up your books and put them in your room. Then come out here and say hello to Mr. Cartwright. He’s brought Nicky along with him this time.” She admonished her son.

The ten-year-old stopped dead in his tracks and then did as he was told quickly. When he reappeared from his room he looked at Sparky.

“Well, if it isn’t the baby more grown up now!” Teddy gave the little boy a malicious look.

Sparky took a deep breath and remembered what Hoss had taught him. He counted to ten in his head and took several deep breaths. He had seen Adam do this before and noticed it had helped him to gain control over his temper

Carol came up behind her son and administered a sharp swat to his behind with her wooden spoon.

“Ow! Ma!” Teddy cried, rubbing his bottom. 

“You be polite to our house guests young man or you’ll feel more than my wooden spoon on your backside!” Carol scolded.

Sparky’s large grey eyes widened and rounded seeing and hearing this. He was glad Teddy’s mother had done that. It made him feel a bit better that someone was going to protect him from his tormentors. 

Ben, seeing his little one working hard at gaining control over his temper was proud of him. 

Sparky looked at the other boy and said, “I’m not so much of a baby anymore Teddy. I’m almost seven years old now.” 

Teddy looked at the tiny boy in front of him, “Yeah, but you still look like about four years old and that a good wind could blow you away!” He laughed. 

Sparky again took several deep breaths. “Teddy, size isn’t everything you know, I’ll have you know that good things come in small packages!” He retorted. 

“Sure, but you aren’t that good. You’re not worth much of anything because you’re so small. You’ll never make it as a miner!” Teddy said smugly. 

Ben and Carol sat there stunned by her son’s words. 

Sparky walked right up to Teddy, looked him in the eye and told him, “Well, sometimes being small is just what is needed. When my brother and his friends were buried in a collapsed snow cave at school this past winter, my small size saved the lives of all six of the boys because I was the only one light enough and small enough to not collapse the snow so they could be rescued. I even got a medal for outstanding Citizenship from the mayor of Virginia City and my picture and the story in the paper. I say that makes me a pretty valuable little person! What has your large size done for you Teddy?” 

The other boy stood there shocked by Sparky standing up to him that way. 

Carol smiled at the little boy’s words to her son. 

Ben just looked on proudly. 

Sparky turned away then and sat back down next to his father. 

Ben placed an arm around his child, pulling him to him and bent down and whispered in his ear, “Sparky, baby, I’m really proud of you son.” 

The littlest Cartwright looked up at Ben and gave him his special small shy smile. 

Carol then stood up and looking her son in the eye said, “Young man, in your room now!” Pointing to Teddy’s room. “When your father comes home he’ll be speaking to you about this. You had better get going on your homework too.” 

The other boy hung his head and turned and left the room. 

When his door shut Carol turned to Sparky. “Nicky, I’m sorry Teddy said those things to you. He will be punished for it by his father when he gets home.”

“It’s okay Mrs. Jamison. I know I’m a worthwhile person. My Papa and brothers tell me so all the time. People like Teddy just want to make themselves feel bigger and stronger and so have to push those who are littler than them around.” 

Ben shook his head shocked at what had just come out of his little one’s mouth. Where did he get that idea from he wondered? 

Teddy headed to his room and Carol went into the kitchen area to tend to the dinner.   
Sparky leaned against his father and Ben held him close. 

When Ed came in and found Ben and Sparky sitting close like that and his wife in the kitchen he was surprised. “Well, hello Ben! Now, this can’t be our little Nicky can it?”

Ben grinned up at Ed. “Hi Ed, and yes, this is your little Nicky.” He urged Sparky to stand up then and he did. 

Ed Jamison looked over the sturdy little boy standing in front of him and he grinned. “Nicky, you sure look like a sturdy little mite! Looks like you could hold your own no matter what comes along.” 

Sparky grinned up at him then. “Sure can Mr. Jamison.”

Carol came up behind her husband then. “You can say that again. Little Nicky stood up to that bully of a son of yours a little while ago.”

Ed raised an eyebrow. “It’s interesting how he becomes my son when he’s misbehaving. I thought he belonged to both of us.” 

Carol smiled at her husband. “Well, I told him to wait in his room. He was very rude to little Nicky here, calling him a baby and telling him he wasn’t worth anything in the mine.” 

The man got annoyed. “Well, we’ll see about that.”

“Ed, you should have seen little Nicky stand up to him though. He’s become a very wise little boy.” Carol tousled Sparky’s blonde hair.

“Well, Ben, Nicky, if you excuse me, it looks like I have a ten-year old to take to task.”

Ben smiled at Ed. “Take your time. Don’t worry about us. Nicky knows all about being disciplined for poor choices and poor behavior.” He looked at his son knowingly. 

The little one colored a bit, understanding his Papa was talking about spanking. 

Mr. Jamison went into his son’s room shutting his door. 

Carol continued to prepare the food. 

Sparky looked at his father. “Papa, will Teddy’s Papa spank him?” He asked quietly.

“I’m not sure son, maybe, if he thinks Teddy deserves it.”

The little boy cuddled into Ben’s side again and Ben held him tight. 

The two of them could hear voices behind the door and then Sparky jumped when he heard a sharp smacking sound and a yelp following it. Ben just tightened his hold on his son. 

When the smacks and the crying stopped Sparky looked up at his father and said quietly, “Papa, I wish Teddy didn’t have to get spanked, but I understand why his Papa had to do   
it.” Ben nodded and rubbed his child’s back to soothe him, sensing him being a little upset by the other boy’s punishment. 

In a bit Ed and Teddy came out of the room. The boy approached Sparky, his eyes red rimmed from crying. “Nicky, I’m sorry for being so mean and rude to you. I promise it won’t happen again. Then the boy rubbed his bottom.

Sparky stood up and offered his hand. “I forgive you Teddy, and I’m sorry you had to get spanked because of it.” 

Teddy surprised, took Sparky’s hand and shook it. Then glancing over at his father asked, “Pa, can Nicky and I play in my room until supper is ready?”

Sparky looked a little nervous. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be in a room alone with Teddy. He still didn’t trust him. 

Ben, seeing the little boy’s trepidation said, “Why don’t you bring something for the two of you to play without here?”

Ed, understanding Ben’s concern said, “That sounds like a good idea son. Why don’t you get your soldiers and you and Nicky can play in the corner over there until your Ma has supper ready for us all.”

“Okay Pa.” Teddy headed back into his room and Ben could see his little boy visibly relax. 

The other little boy came out soon with the soldiers and the two youngsters played together where the fathers could see them and watch over their play. Sparky was pretty good at playing war because playing with three older brothers had taught him a few things. Teddy was enjoying himself because he was discovering Sparky was a challenge. He played more like his other friends, not so much like a little kid, the way he thought Nicky would play. He was smart and had good strategies and soon Teddy stopped thinking of Sparky as the little kid in camp that everyone could tease and play mean tricks on just because they could. 

When Carol called them all to eat Ben was a little concerned because of his little son’s picky eating habits. He sat the boy next to him and leaned down and whispered in his ear so only he could hear. “Sparky, I want you to eat some of everything I put on your plate. I won’t put anything on I know you absolutely will not eat. I want you to try to finish all your meal. If you play with your food, or don’t eat well, I’m going to have to embarrass you and put you in my lap and feed you. If I have to do that, you won’t get any dessert. Is that understood?”

The child looked into those brown eyes and knew his Papa was very serious. “Yes Papa.” 

“Very good.” Ben then proceeded to place food on his son’s plate.

Supper went off without a hitch and the elder Cartwright was glad of it. When they were through Sparky took his plate to the kitchen area and began to help clear the table. 

Carol took the dishes from the little boy and shooed him away. “I’ll take care of this Nicky.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jamison. We help out Hop Sing at home.” 

“That’s very good, but here you are a guest and so I’ll take care of this.” 

“Yes Ma’am.” The little boy said politely and went to his father. “Papa, Mrs. Jamison said she didn’t want me to help clear the table.”

“That’s okay Sparky. You were a good boy to offer.” Ben hugged the child and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Ed saw this and smiled. He could see Ben and the boy had a very special bond and this warmed his heart. 

 

Chapter 26

 

When all was cleared away, Teddy and Sparky went back into the corner to play with the soldiers again. In a while there was a knock on the door and Sally and Earl Brinks with their son Timmy arrived. Carol answered the door. “Sally, Earl, Timmy, come on in. Teddy and Nicky are playing with Teddy’s soldiers over there Timmy if you want to join them.” Carol said, indicating the two boys actively playing in the corner. 

Earl stepped into the room and shook hands with Ben. Ben smiled at the man. “Hello   
Earl, let me introduce you to Nicky again.” Ben turned and called, “Nicholas, come here   
and say hello to Mr. Brinks.” Sparky jumped up and began to run toward Ben when Timmy deliberately put his foot out into Sparky’s path sending the little boy flying face first onto the floor.

The youngster lay there for a moment, stunned. 

Ben jumped up and went to pick the little boy up from the floor. 

Timmy started laughing and Sparky turned quickly and before anyone knew what was happening lit into the older boy. He punched Timmy in the eye and then barreling into him knocked him down and once the other boy was on the ground began punching him with all his little strength, which at the moment was quite a bit because of all the adrenalin flowing through his system.   
“You will *never* do that to me again. I’m not some little kid you can bully like you used to, you know! I know how to fight back now!” The youngster shouted pounding on the bigger boy. 

Ben got hold of his son and physically picked him up off the older boy. 

Timmy’s father grabbed his son and hauled him to his feet and then tucking him under his arm, bending him over began to swat his backside hard until the boy was wailing. 

Sparky by this time was wailing too from anger and years of frustration. Ben should have seen this coming. It was years of pent up anger and frustration being unleashed. Maybe it was a good thing after all. Perhaps after all the fall out of this fiasco his son wouldn’t have such a strong need to fight other kids all the time. 

Carol and Sally just stood in the middle of the chaos in total shock. 

Teddy and Ed had also stepped back. Teddy was shocked at the ferocity of Sparky’s attack on Timmy and at his friend’s stupidity for doing such a thing to begin with. 

Ben was having a very hard time calming the littlest Cartwright down. The little boy refused to stop fighting. His anger and frustration were so great. He kept trying to contain him and talk to him soothingly. 

When Earl finally finished warming his son’s backside good for him he stood the boy up, then sat him down in a chair and Carol brought a cold piece of steak for Timmy’s eye. 

Sparky was still wailing and crying for all he was worth. Finally, Ben, not wanting to, but knowing he had to, wrestled his child over his knee and administered a sharp swat to his behind. 

“Oww! Papa!” The little mite wailed and then dissolved into a torrent of tears, going limp over his father’s lap. He righted the little boy immediately and cuddled him while Sparky buried his little face into his Papa’s shoulder and cried harder than Ben had ever seen him cry. 

He tried his best to calm the boy, but his son just would not be comforted. Ben decided to just let the crying run its course.

Teddy was angry. His friend had done a very stupid thing. Nicky hadn’t done anything to him and in fact, he was getting to like the little boy now that he had had an opportunity to get to know him a little bit. 

“Timmy, that was mean and stupid!” Teddy shouted at his friend.

The other boy shouted back, “You would have done the same thing to him at one time, why are you getting mad at me?”

“Because Nicky isn’t the same kid we used to torment anymore. He’s smart and a lot of fun to play with.”

“Well, I don’t care, as far as I’m concerned, he’s still the same little brat he always was, still getting us into trouble.” 

“Tim, you’re a jerk. He’s changed. He’s a really great kid once you give him a chance and get to know him. Now you’ve got him going and that wasn’t fair!”

Earl hearing his son not being very repentant for his behavior stood in front of the boy. “Timothy, stand up!” His father ordered.

Timmy, seeing his father and hearing him using his stern voice, did as he was told. His father sat in the chair his son had just vacated and pulling the boy over his knee, removing his belt applied it to the seat of his child’s pants until he was sure his youngster had learned the lesson that little Nicky Cartwright was no longer fair game to be used and abused like he had been in the past. 

Sparky seeing and hearing the other little boy being punished began to wail harder again. 

Ben picked up his child and walked outside with him. The youngster had not stopped crying since all this began and he needed to calm the little mite or he would be sick. 

The elder Cartwright holding his son with his face buried in his shoulder still crying hot tears walked up and down with him, rubbing his back and saying soothing things to the boy. Eventually the youngster’s crying eased and Ben was able to talk to him a bit. He walked over to a fence and placing the little boy on top of it so they could be at eye level asked, “Sparky, baby, are you, all right?”

The child’s chin trembled and Ben was afraid the torrent of tears would begin again. The littlest Cartwright, unable to speak shook his head no. 

Ben understood and just picked the child up again and held him some more. 

After Earl finished licking Timmy’s backside with the belt he sat him down in the chair, standing up and lectured the boy. Tim decided he had better behave at this point and promised to apologize to Nicky.

Ben decided he was not going to spank Sparky for this fight. The other boy had deliberately provoked his son and had apparently done something to Sparky that had been commonplace when he lived here at the mine. The boy had reacted out of pure instinct and self-preservation. 

The Cartwright patriarch was still walking his child up and down when Sally came outside. “Ben?” She asked hesitantly.

“Yes Sally?” 

“How is Nicky?” She asked with grave concern.

“He’s quiet, but just on the edge. It wouldn’t take much to get him crying hard again. You know today is the day when that family he had been sent away with was killed in the landslide.” Ben shared.

“I knew it was around this time, but I didn’t remember exactly when.”

“It’s one of the reasons I brought the child here. I thought it was about time he faced his past.”

”I’m so sorry my boy triggered all this. Is Nicky all right? Is he hurt at all?”

Ben hadn’t even had time to examine his son for any injuries. “I don’t think he has any serious physical injuries, if he does have any, they probably aren’t anything compared to the emotional ones he apparently needs to heal.” 

He looked down at the child who was still clinging to him for dear life. “Nicky, I think it’s time for us to go back into the house son.”

Ben felt the child nod against his shoulder and he walked back into the house. Once inside he sat down and then examined his child for any bruises he may have suffered both from his fall and the ensuing fight. 

Sparky had a bruise on his left knee and his left cheek where he had fallen. Other than that, he was okay. 

The youngster had stopped crying now and Timmy approached the little boy a bit hesitantly. “Nicky, I’m sorry for tripping you like that. It was a very mean and stupid thing to do. I promise, I won’t do anything like that again. If I do, my Pa will wallop the tar out of me.” The other boy told Sparky, rubbing his backside. 

Sparky looked at him with his large grey eyes, took a deep breath and said, “Timmy, I accept your apology. I’m sorry I hit you. I’m sorry for giving you a black eye and that you got a licking too.” he said in a low sad voice.

Ben hugged his child. “Good boy Nicky, Papa likes it when you forgive those people who hurt you and also apologize when you were wrong.”

The child looked up at his father. “Papa, are you going to spank me for starting a fight?” He asked in a small voice.

“No Sparky, I’m not going to spank you for this one. You were severely provoked and this whole thing was under very unusual circumstances. That doesn’t mean however that if you are the one to start the fight next time that you won’t get the spanking you’ve been promised.”

Earl and Ed looked at Ben. “What have you promised the boy Ben for fighting?”

“A session with the hairbrush, getting directly to the seat of the problem.” Ben replied. 

The men understood Ben’s meaning. The two-father’s eyed each of their boys. And said to their sons, “You two will get the same kind of spanking if there is any more of this nonsense between yourselves and Nicky. Is that understood?” 

Both boys replied, “Yes Sir.” Looking at each other and knowing their fathers meant what they said. 

 

Chapter 27

 

Sparky didn’t want to play anymore after all this. He just wanted to stay in his Papa’s lap and really didn’t care if he looked like a baby or not. He needed the security of his father. 

Ben didn’t object to the Littlest Cartwright wanting to be held and cuddled either. When it came time for bed he tucked the little mite in beside him. “Sparky, you’ll sleep with Papa tonight. Tomorrow we’ll spend some more time here at the mine and then we’ll head for home okay?” 

“Yes Papa.” The little boy snuggled down in the bed and into Ben’s side once the man crawled in. 

When the little one split the night with his screams, in the grips of a bad nightmare, Ben was not surprised. He calmed the child, walked him up and down and Carol warmed some milk for him, which his Papa made him drink. Once the little boy was asleep Ben laid down with him again.

In the morning, Sparky still was not his usual self. He was fractious, whining, stubborn and driving his father to distraction. When Ben brought Nicky to the table and he refused to eat his breakfast he had had enough. He looked his child in the eye and said, Nicholas Brett Gibson Cartwright, if you don’t stop this whining and stubbornness Papa will have to give you a sound spanking. Remember little boy, it’s a long ride to Virginia City and even longer if you have to ride on a sore bottom!”

The youngster’s eyes widened and rounded at his father’s pronouncement. He didn’t want to have to ride home on a sore backside, so he worked hard at pulling himself together and did all that was asked of him. 

After breakfast Ben then took the littlest Cartwright with him as he toured the mine and its operations. 

When they visited the school, Sparky noticed that both Teddy and Timmy were having a hard time sitting on the hard seat of their desk. He made no mention of it however as he didn’t want to be joining them in that department. 

The morning went well with the little boy meeting many of the people he had known while he lived at the mine and they marveled at the changes he had made. 

Carol had been good enough to fix them some lunch as well as some food to take with them on the road. 

Ben and Sparky said their good-byes and headed for home. 

As the father and son road along Ben glanced at his little boy to see him looking rather pensive. “Sparky boy, what are you thinking about?”

The little boy turned to his father. “I was thinking about all the changes at the mine Papa. The people seemed happier and things were so much cleaner and I wasn’t as scared as I thought I would be. I guess what happened between me and Timmy must have gotten around because none of the other kids at the mine said or did anything mean to me this morning. I was kind of worried about that.” The little boy glanced furtively at his father.

Ben noticing this, addressed his little son. “I told you Sweet Pea that the fight you had with Timmy last night was under unusual circumstances and that I wasn’t going to punish you for that. I understood how upset you were and that the fight wasn’t your fault. I just don’t expect you to continue that behavior is all.” He gave the Littlest Cartwright a grin.

Sparky feeling more secure now and realizing he truly was not in any trouble over that incident gave his father a sunny smile in return. 

Ben was glad to see it too. His little boy was trying hard to grow up. He just didn’t want him to grow up too fast or too soon. He wanted Sparky to stay a little boy for as long as he could. One day he would be a very wealthy man and Ben hoped that he could instill a sense of goodness in the child that would carry on into his adulthood. He wouldn’t want the youngster to be bitter and resentful toward the people at the Greenbacks mine. He wanted his son to remember that there were caring people there. People who cared enough about a little child that they fed and protected him to the best of their ability. Ben was glad to see the fathers of both Teddy and Timmy disciplining their boys for acting poorly toward his son, not because he was the owner of the mine, even they didn’t know that, but because the child deserved to be treated well. Sparky was still special to many of the people of the mine. He wanted The Littlest Cartwright to realize just how much he was cared about by those people so when he did learn about his own ownership and wealth that he would know the people at the mine respected him for who he was, not his money. Ben resolved to bring Sparky back to the mine more often.   
He wanted him to develop friendships there like those he had at the Silver Eagle mine. 

<<<<>>>>

As they rode up into the yard Little Joe, Hoss and Adam, along with Hop Sing were there to greet them. Sparky let Hoss take Blaze from him and Hop Sing led him by the hand to his room where he put the little boy down for a well-deserved nap. 

When the little one woke it was time for supper and he ate pretty well. His brothers asked him about the Green Backs and he told them of all the changes. 

Adam, seeing the bruise on his baby brother’s cheek asked, “Sparky, where did you get that bruise on your cheek?”

“Umm… I got into a fight with Timmy Brinks.”

Adam raised an eyebrow and exchanged looks with Hoss. They both had been aware of their little brother’s bargain with their father and wondered at him still being able to sit. 

Sparky seeing this said, “Papa didn’t spank me because the fight wasn’t my fault. It was Timmy who tripped me first and started it.” 

His brothers again exchanged looks, but said nothing more. 

Ben just smiled at all four of his sons feeling content. 

 

Chapter 28

 

A couple of weeks later Ben and the older boys were working in the barn when Sparky came in and climbing up on Blazes stall pronounced, “I think it’s time I was allowed to do anything I want without being told no or being punished for it!” 

Ben and the other boys looked at the little mite in astonishment. The elder Cartwright walking over to him looked him in the eye and asked, “Why do you think that Nicholas?”

“Because I deserve to be allowed to. That’s why.”

Ben wondered what this was all about. 

Adam walked over to his little brother and attempted to pick him up off the wall of the stall, but was very surprised by him kicking out at him and the child stating, “  
Don’t try that Adam, I want to stay up here and you won’t be taking me off unless I want you to and right now I don’t want you to.” The child announced smugly. 

Ben and the boys again exchanged looks. They had no idea what was going on with the little mite, but Ben wasn’t going to put up with this for very long.  
“Little boy, you had better change your attitude before I change it for you.” Ben said sternly looking his little son right in the eye. What he saw in return startled him. The child looked him right back and with a blaze of anger in his large grey eyes that Ben hadn’t seen there before.  
“Young man, what is this all about?” he asked, looking at him sternly.

“You just let my daddy come in last year and take me away. You didn’t even try to stop him. You all just let him carry me away and then he hurt me and it wasn’t until I was so sick that anyone here showed enough caring to make him give me back!” The little one pronounced.

Ben and the boys were shocked. They had never really discussed that whole situation with Sparky. Once Lyle had died they never really said or thought anything about any of it. Now he was angry and trying to express his feelings about that situation. 

“Sparky, Ben began, I think this is something we need to go up to the house to talk about. There are some things I think you need to understand.” He walked over to pick the boy up off the wall of the stall, but the child kicked out at him as well saying, “No, we will talk about it here and now!” The youngster gave his father a defiant look. 

“Okay, little boy, if this is the way you want it, we’ll talk about it right here. First of all, young man, I didn’t have any choice. Your father had the legal right to remove you from my home. Even if I had had Sheriff Coffee come out here he would still have had to let your father take you away weather I wanted it or not.   
Second, you didn’t know your father and he didn’t take any time to find out about you either. With your temperament and him not ever being a parent he had little tolerance for your emotions, especially your anger and fears. That is mostly why your father came down on you so hard and abused you” 

Little Sparky shot his father a fiery look. “You didn’t protect me!” 

“Whoa now Nicholas, I protected you as well as the law allowed me to. It nearly broke my heart to see you in the state you arrived in that one night when you ended up on the porch. I was able to keep you here only because Doc Martin and Sheriff Coffee made that possible through the law. If they hadn’t stood up for you Lyle would have been able to grab you right away from me in the street that day in town. I had to go by the judge’s ruling and allow your father to take you back. I was ordered by the judge not to have any contact with you or your father from that point forward. It hurt me and your brothers bad. There was nothing anyone could do. When your father took you to the golden nugget I prayed that you would be safe. Mike Calahan tried his best to look out for you.”

Sparky thought about what his father was saying. He remembered the night he had arrived at the Ponderosa after walking all that way from the Silver Eagle mine and the loving way his Papa had taken him inside and then to his own bed and knew the truth of what he said as he recalled his Papa not allowing his father to take him away from him that next morning or again later, when they were in town. He also remembered Mike Calahan telling him to talk to the mine boss if he got into trouble and that someone would help him. He looked up into the dark brown eyes of his Papa and then glanced into the hazel eyes of his brother Adam, the blue eyes of his brother Hoss and the green eyes of his brother Little Joe and saw the truth in his father’s words. He lowered his eyes and tears escaped, trickling down his little face. 

Ben went on. “Your father made the decision to bring you back to us Sparky. We didn’t make him do that. He was scared that you might die because you were so sick, not only physically, but also emotionally because you missed us all so badly. He gave you back to us all on his own. He recognized he couldn’t be the daddy you needed. He realized that we could give you what he couldn’t. He realized we were able to give you love, that you trusted us, that we could give you consistency, understanding, knowing when to give you space and when to hold a hard line. Your daddy couldn’t do this and that was why you came back. It was his decision. We had nothing to do with it. All we did was to accept you back, because we loved you so much. Our hearts were nearly broken to see the state you were in. I had a long talk with your daddy and allowed him to be a daddy to you in whatever way he could. He learned a few things and although began to be a better daddy to you, knew he wouldn’t ever be able to be the kind of father you really needed.” Ben finished explaining to his little son. 

This time when Ben approached his child the boy allowed him to pick him up and hug him tightly in his arms. 

“It’s okay baby, Papa and your brothers all still love you. We’re glad you brought out your feelings about this.” He hugged the little mite tightly and then handed him off to each of his brothers, beginning with Little Joe and ending up with Adam who looked the child in the eye and asked, “Little boy, are you supposed to be up on the wall of Blazes stall?”

“No Adam.” Sparky said looking up at his brother and Adam smacked him a little more sharply on his bottom than usual and said, “I love you, you little mite. I hope this has helped you to not be holding in so much anger.”

Sparky tried to rub the spot Adam smacked him on and gave him a small shy smile. 

Then the older boy looked at his little brother a bit more sternly. 

Sparky looked up again a little worried now.

“Young man, are you supposed to kick people?”

The little boy now looked more than a little worried. “No.” He said in a small voice. 

The young man flipped the child over, glanced up at his father who nodded and smacked his bottom sharply giving him a spanking. The elder Cartwright didn’t interfere. Once Adam was through the youngster was in tears, but the older boy hugged him tight and held him close. “Baby, if you’re angry then you need to talk about it, not act it out. I won’t tolerate your kicking me or anyone else for that matter.” 

Sparky looked up with his tear streaked face and then flung himself into his oldest brother’s arms crying hard and the young man, looking at his Pa with consternation held the little   
boy tight. 

Ben just smiled at his oldest son and Adam felt better. He realized that Pa was telling him he had said and done the right things in regard to the Littlest Cartwright. 

Once Sparky stopped crying Adam continued to hold him in his arms. The child snuggling into his brother’s chest, looked up and Said, “Adam, I’m sorry for trying to kick you and Papa. You’re right, that wasn’t the way to handle my angry feelings.” 

The oldest Cartwright son smiled at the little one then and tousled his hair. He handed him off to his father and Ben kissed his baby son and gave him a sharp swat as well. 

“Ow! Papa! What was that for?”

“For trying to kick me as well. I too won’t tolerate that kind of behavior young man. If your brother hadn’t already spanked your bottom I would have.” 

Sparky ducked his head then and said, “Papa, I’m sorry for trying to kick you as well.”

“You’re forgiven baby, now, let’s go up to the house. I think Hop Sing has supper ready for us.”

Ben carried the Littlest Cartwright on his shoulders and Sparky grinned the whole way feeling a whole lot better. Ben finally understood the anger that his child had displayed from time to time since Lyle had taken him away last Spring. He was glad that the mystery about his son’s angry episodes was now solved. 

 

Chapter 29 

 

Little Joe, Mitch Devlin and Seth Pruitt slipped out behind the barn. They had been acting rather secretive and Sparky wondered what they were up to. Papa, Adam and Hoss had gone out to the North pasture and He and Little Joe had been left home with Hop Sing. They had all just come home from school and the older boys had helped Little Joe to finish his chores and they were all talking in whispers. They would be quiet when Sparky came near and he knew whatever they were doing they didn’t want him to know. 

“Sparky, aren’t you supposed to be in the house with hop Sing?” Little Joe asked.

“No, I don’t have to. It’s nice outside and Papa said I don’t have to be supervised to be able to play outside anymore.”

“Then why don’t you go play on your swing?”

“I don’t want to. I want to be with you and the other boys.”

“Sparky, I don’t want you hanging around. I want to be with my friends and do things with them you aren’t allowed to do.”

“What do you want to do that I’m not allowed?”

“Well, like climb trees and hike into the woods, things like that.”

Sparky decided he wouldn’t learn what his brother was up to unless he hung back and pretended he wasn’t interested in what they were doing so he went to play on his swing. He watched them out of the corner of his eye and when the three boys went behind the barn, he slipped away from his swing and sneaked out to the back of the barn to see what they were doing. His large grey eyes widened and rounded as he saw the boys pull out pipes and fill them with tobacco and smoke them like Papa did. 

“Little Joe! When did you begin to smoke like Papa?” Sparky cried.

Little Joe spun around his face red and angry. “Sparky, what are you doing spying on me and my friends?”

“I’m not, I just want to know when you began smoking.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Aw, come on Little Joe, let me try too.”

The other boys looked at each other and then Little Joe let his little brother smoke from the pipe. The little one coughed and didn’t know what to do. He thought he was going to die. 

The other boys laughed at the little boy. “Sparky, try again.” Mitch urged. 

After a while the littlest Cartwright was turning green and began to vomit. 

 

The boys got scared then. They hadn’t intended for the little boy to get violently sick, only to teach him a lesson about spying on them. Now Little Joe didn’t know what to do. He knew his father would want to know why Sparky was so sick and they would all be caught. 

Ben, Adam and Hoss rode into the yard and Ben seeing the boys out behind the barn stepped back there and demanded to know what was going on. He saw Mitch and Sparky each with a pipe and the little boy looking green and throwing up. It didn’t take much for him to understand what was happening.   
“All four of you, in the barn now!” Ben commanded.

Little Joe taking his poor little brother by the hand went into the barn with his two friends not far behind.

Ben entered and after confronting the boys about what they had been doing, sent Sparky and Little Joe to the house and then escorted Mitch and Seth to their homes, telling their respective fathers about their son’s escapade. 

George Devlin took off his belt and applied it to the seat of Mitch’s pants the whole way to the barn. 

Seth’s father did the same. 

When Ben returned he went to Little Joe’s room. He knocked on the door and the boy jumped to his feet when his father walked in. He knew he was in big trouble. It was bad enough to have been caught smoking himself, but having let Sparky do it and let him get sick… that was worse. 

“Well Joseph, what do you have to say for yourself?” Ben asked crossing his arms in front of him and glaring at his thirteen-year-old.

“Umm… I’m sorry Pa. It was wrong of me to smoke, to take your pipe and tobacco, even if the pipe was one of your old ones you don’t use anymore and it was really wrong to let Sparky do it too.” Little Joe hung his head, tears sparkling in his green eyes. 

Ben sighed. He had had to go through this with Adam and Hoss when Adam was about Little Joe’s age and Hoss was about Sparky’s age.   
“Little Joe, I know you want to do grown up things, but you should have asked me about this. I would have explained my view on young people smoking. Now you have gone behind my back, made your little brother sick and force me to punish you.”

“I’m sorry Pa. I didn’t know it would make Sparky sick. We just thought he’d cough and wouldn’t like it and go away and leave us alone. When he began to throw up it scared us Pa.”

“Well, I’m going in to check on your little brother to see how he is. I’m really disappointed in your decisions here young man. You’re supposed to protect your little brother, not do him harm.” Ben scolded.

Little Joe hung his head and tears rolled down his face now. 

“You stay here now and I’ll be back.”

“Yes Sir.” The youngster swiped at his tears as Ben left the room. Once his father closed the door Little Joe sat on his bed, buried his face in his hands and wept. He wasn’t so much upset at getting caught smoking, but because Pa was disappointed and he had made his little brother sick.

Ben knocked lightly at Sparky’s door and went in. The little boy was still looking a bit green and was moaning, holding his stomach.   
“How are you feeling baby?” Ben asked, brushing damp hair off his child’s forehead.

“Awful Papa.” The youngster moaned. Then he leaned over the bed and vomited again into the basin Hop Sing had placed there for him. Ben put a cool cloth on the back of the child’s neck and then took another one and wiped the little boy’s face. He gave him a glass of water for him to wash his mouth out as well, tending to the little tyke. 

“It will take a little while, but you’ll feel better soon.” Ben comforted.

“Papa, why did Little Joe and the other boys do that to me?” Sparky asked in a small voice tears rolling down his little face. 

“They didn’t really know it would make you sick Sparky, they thought you just wouldn’t like it and go away and leave them alone.” Ben then took his small son and cuddled him in his lap and stroked his hair and face. 

“Papa, that was very mean.” Sparky pouted. 

“They didn’t mean for that to happen. They didn’t do it on purpose baby.” Ben continued to comfort his small son. 

“I don’t feel so very good.” Sparky said suddenly looking a bit green and Ben helped him to vomit once again. Once the youngster had nothing more than dry heaves Ben rubbed his back and gave him small sips of water and washed his little face with the cool cloth. 

“You rest now okay? I’m going to have a talk with Little Joe now.” Ben rubbed his baby son’s back after laying him down in his bed. 

“Papa?” Sparky asked sleepily.

“Yes, Sweet Pea?” 

“Don’t spank Little Joe. He didn’t mean to make me sick.” Sparky admonished.

Ben smiled. “Little one, I know he didn’t mean to make you sick, but he shouldn’t have taken one of my old pipes without permission or the tobacco either. He will have to be punished for that because that was stealing.” Ben explained to the Littlest Cartwright.

“Okay Papa.” Sparky slipped into slumber. 

Ben sat with his son for a little while longer and then, covering him went back to his other son. 

Little Joe felt really horrible. He never wanted Sparky to get sick or hurt because of something he and his friends did. When his father came to his door and entered his room he felt a bit better. He knew he was going to get into trouble, but didn’t care. He knew he deserved whatever happened. He hadn’t set a very good example for Sparky and he felt pretty bad about that. 

“Little Joe, come with me to the barn son.” Ben instructed. 

The boy got up and followed his father outside to the barn. Ben closed the door and led the way to the back of the building. Once there he sat upon a bale of hay and said, “Son, tell me what you did wrong today and why I will need to give you a tanning.”

The youngster hung his head. 

“Joseph, look at me and answer my question.” Ben instructed firmly, but not unkindly.   
He hated disciplining his young son with a passion, but knew his duty as a father was to guide this son in the right direction or things would get out of hand very quickly. 

Little Joe bravely met the dark brown eyes of his father and saw compassion and understanding there. “I took your old pipe and tobacco without permission and made my little brother sick by allowing him to smoke. He’s only a little kid and I should have known better.”

“Very good.” You know what to do now little boy.” His father indicated the saddle stand.

His recalcitrant son unfastened his jeans with trembling fingers and lowered them along with his underdrawers and bent over the saddle stand. 

Ben stood up, walked over and pulling off his belt proceeded to apply it to his son’s backside. When he was through Little Joe was in tears, but Ben held him and comforted him. 

“I’m sorry Pa, I won’t ever do something so stupid again, especially involving Sparky.” The youngster sniffled.   
Ben wiped the tears from his son’s face and held him tight after helping him replace his clothing. He held the child tightly to him his heart beating strong and comfortingly. Once Little Joe had stopped crying Ben let him go and the boy rubbed his now very sore hide. 

“Pa, you sure know how to teach a guy a lesson!” his son grimaced.

Ben just placed his hand on the back of the boy’s neck and said, “Along with growing up comes responsibility Little Joe. I know you sometimes forget that you have a little brother who looks up to you and wants to do the things you do just like you wanted to do the same things your older brothers did and still do. It’s all a part of growing up. We make mistakes, we pay for them, learn from them and move on. I want you to know your forgiven for all this now. Sparky will be all right. I don’t think he’s going to be too curious about smoking a pipe for a very long time.” He grinned at his young son.

“I don’t expect so Pa.” Little Joe replied wincing as he continued to rub his tender behind. 

They went on back up to the house. 

<<<<>>>>

When Sparky woke up he was feeling a bit better. He was hungry and putting on his shoes wandered downstairs. Ben seeing the littlest Cartwright coming down asked, “How   
are you feeling Sweet Pea?”

“Hungry Papa. When will we eat?” Sparky asked crawling up into his father’s lap. 

“Soon. You look quite a bit better.” Ben tousled the child’s blonde hair.

“I feel better too. Did you have a necessary talk with Little Joe?” Sparky asked anxiously.

“Yes, but he’s all right other than having a sore behind.” He said hugging the little boy.

“Papa, I’m sorry I smoked the pipe.” Sparky looked up anxiously at Ben.

“I’m sure you are baby. I don’t ever want to see you doing something like that again, do you understand little boy?” He asked sternly.

“Yes Papa. I won’t do that again.” Sparky said earnestly looking up at Ben with those large grey eyes.

“Good.” His Papa said, patting the child’s bottom. 

Adam and Hoss came inside and seeing their little brother looking better picked him up and swung him around. Sparky grinned and giggled as his older brothers played with him. Little Joe made his way downstairs carefully as his behind was aching. Sparky seeing his older brother coming down the stairs that way had a concerned look in his   
eyes. Little Joe walked over and tousling his hair said, “Hey there little one, you’re looking a whole lot better than you were earlier. I’m sorry we got you so sick Sweet Pea.” 

“That’s okay Little Joe. Papa explained to me that you didn’t know I would get sick.”

The older boy ducked his head. He had known that smoking would make the little boy sick, but neither Sparky or Pa needed to know that. He had gotten sick himself the first couple of times he and the other boys had tried smoking, but he had just told Pa he thought it might have been something going around at school since Mitch and Seth too had been sick to their stomachs and Pa hadn’t said anything more about it. Little Joe did feel bad about it though because he and the others had done it to teach Sparky a lesson about spying on them. He promised himself he wouldn’t do anything again to his little brother that would deliberately harm him to teach him a lesson. Next time he would try something different. He didn’t like to see his baby brother hurting. 

Hop Sing stepped out of the kitchen and called them all to dinner. 

Little Joe found a cushion on his chair and was grateful. 

Sparky chattered like a little magpie and Ben smiled at his youngest son. The boy ate pretty well and Ben was pleased that he had recovered from is ordeal so well. 

After supper Little Joe went back to his room and Adam and Hoss played a game of checkers. Sparky crawled into Ben’s lap and was content to sit there cuddled up with his Papa while Ben read the paper. The little boy looked at the paper with Ben and read an article about a cave in at the Golden Nugget mine. “Papa, can’t we help the people at the Golden Nugget mine?” 

Ben was surprised by the question. He had not yet seen the news article.   
“Why do you ask that baby?” he asked a bit puzzled.

“They had a cave in at the mine and twenty men were killed.” Sparky replied pointing to the article. 

Ben glanced further down the page and quickly scanned the article the child had pointed to.   
“Well, son, I’m not sure we can do very much. I don’t have an interest in the mine.”

Sparky looked up at his Papa with wide sad eyes. “Papa, don’t you care about those people? I thought you would be interested in helping miners.” A single tear escaped the child’s eye.

Ben suddenly understood what his child meant. “Sweet Pea, I didn’t mean that I didn’t care about those people, I just meant that I didn’t own a part of the mine and because of that I really won’t be able to help. The people who own the mine, people who have shares in the mine, will help those people. The mine owners don’t usually appreciate people from the outside taking an interest in what goes on at their mine.”

“How come Papa?” The youngster asked puzzled. 

“Many times, it’s because they don’t trust outsiders. They’re afraid someone will steal the mine away.” The little one’s father explained.

The little mite looked up at his father and said. “Oh.” He settled back down in his Papa’s lap and cuddled with him. 

Ben marveled at his young son, both because of his reading ability and the compassion he was beginning to develop for miners. 

 

Chapter 30

 

Sparky was playing in the yard, swinging on his swing when he noticed a cloud of dust coming along the road. His father and three older brothers were all away from the house attending to ranch business. Adam had gone up to the lumber camp, Hoss and Little Joe had gone up to the North Pasture to tend to the cattle there and his father had gone to town to get supplies and the mail. Sparky had not been allowed to go with Ben because he had been disrespectful to his father that morning, having a tantrum and pushing over the line. Ben had given him six swats and ten minutes corner time and told him he was going to stay home because his father didn’t want to deal with his son’s attitude all the way to town, in Virginia City and then back again. The little boy ran into the house.

”Hop Sing! There’s someone coming along the road!” The youngster shouted running into the kitchen.

“Little boy no run in Hop Sing kitchen and not shout!” Hop Sing scolded.

Sparky hung his head then and Hop Sing asked, “Now, what boy mean?”  
The little one picked up his head and told Hop Sing about the cloud of dust he had seen on the road headed toward the ranch. The little Chinese man wiped his hands on a towel and went outside to see. He knew from the amount of dust it had to be a wagon and wondered at who might be coming up the road in a wagon to the Ponderosa.

He looked at the child in his care critically. “Little boy come into kitchen and wash up. Face dirty.”

“Aw Hop Sing…” Sparky began to whine.

“Boy no complain.” Hop Sing placing a hand around the back of the little boy’s neck guided him into the kitchen and made him wash his face and arms along with his hands. His clothes were not too bad so he didn’t make him go up and change. 

The littlest Cartwright stayed on the porch as Hop Sing instructed. He didn’t want to get sent to his room and then not be allowed to see who the visitors were.

When the wagon drew closer the little boy was surprised. Linda Walker was driving and Gregory and his friend Christopher were along without any of the other children. 

The little boy had to put every constraint on himself to not run out into the yard and halfway up the road to greet his friends. He just resorted to bouncing up and down on the porch with excitement and shouting, “Hop Sing! It’s my friends Gregory and Christopher coming with Mrs. Walker driving!”

Hop Sing stepped out onto the porch and then quickly disappeared into his kitchen to prepare tea and some cookies for his guests. 

When Linda pulled up into the yard her two young charges also restrained themselves from jumping down from the wagon before Linda gave them permission. Once she did so, the two boys jumped off the wagon and the little one jumped down from the porch and all three little boys chattered excited about how and why they were there. Linda laughed at their excitement and carefully climbing down so as not to catch her skirts opened her arms to the youngest Cartwright boy and Sparky flung himself into them. 

Linda hugging the little mite, lifted him into her arms and said, “Young man, you are getting heavy! You seem to have grown a bit too if I’m not mistaken!” 

“I guess I have gotten a bit more sturdy and grown a little, not much though as Papa says I don’t need new clothes because Hop Sing can still let down my jeans!” Sparky replied giving his surrogate mother a big grin. 

She patted his bottom and set him down on the ground. 

Once set on his feet, the child ran off and grabbing his little friends ran over to the swing where they began to take turns playing. 

Hop Sing stepped out onto the porch. “Missy Walker come inside and have tea and something to eat.”  
“Thank you, Hop Sing.,” Linda Walker went in, leaving the children to play.

“Mister Cartwright, not home, went to town. Will be back in a while.” Hop Sing informed the woman.

“It’s all right Hop Sing. No one was expecting us today. It was such a nice day and the children haven’t had an opportunity to get together since Christmas because of the weather and school. I thought I’d surprise little Sparky and bring his playmates over for a while.”

“Very good surprise for little one. Little one sad lately. Act naughty.” Hop Sing shared. 

“I know last year at this time it was a hard time for the child with his father taking him, the anniversary of the landslide and all that came afterward. I just wanted to see him and how he was doing.” Linda smiled at the little man. 

“Boy naughty this morning, no go with Mr. Ben. He better after nap.” Hop Sing informed her.

Linda smiled. “Yes, I know him by now.”

Hop Sing left her then to tend to his kitchen chores.

Sparky, Gregory and Christopher played on the swing for a while. When they grew bored with that they took turns hitting dirt clods with a stick and then engaged in a game of tag.

Linda had stepped out onto the porch to watch the children at play. She didn’t interfere with anything they did. She would only intercede if they began to argue or began to do something that they could get injured doing. After a while Hop Sing brought out lemonade and cookies for the children and they all gathered around Linda who supervised them with their treat. 

When Ben came riding up into the yard, seeing Linda Walker on the porch and his son’s two little friends playing with him in the yard he grinned.   
“Hello Linda! I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you!” 

Linda smiled. “It’s all right Ben, you didn’t know we were coming. I was thinking of Sparky and decided to bring the boys over to play since they haven’t seen each other since Christmas.” She stood then. “That little mite sure has been growing. He’s getting heavier and I think he’s grown a bit.”

“Yes, he’s grown about an inch, not as much as he would like, but enough that hop Sing had to let down his jeans and suit pants.” He grinned.

Sparky seeing his father home walked up to him slowly. “Papa?”

Ben smiled down at his little son. “Yes, Sweet Pea?”

“Are you still mad at me?” The child asked hesitantly.

He grinned and scooping the little boy into his arms said, “NO, you little monster, but you were acting pretty naughtily this morning and deserved the consequences.”

Sparky colored at that. “Yes, I know Papa.”

“Well, you’re forgiven baby and I still love you.” He patted the child’s bottom and set him on the ground. The boy ran off to join his friends again to play. 

Ben sat down on the porch next to Linda Walker to watch the children, drinking lemonade and eating cookies. 

“Ben, he seems so much better than even at Christmas.” Linda observed.”

He is… he even asserted himself the other day in the barn about Lyle and that whole situation. He had a few facts wrong, but after we set them straight he stopped being quite so belligerent toward everyone and generally has had a better attitude. Some days, like today, he has moods and is angry again. I’m hoping this passes with time.” He shared with a sigh. 

“I’m certain it will, the child just needs time and consistency. I know you give him both.” She smiled again.

“Yes, but at times it is very hard. I know he gets lonely and it’s hard for other younger children to visit him here. I took him to the green Backs mine a bit ago, when the anniversary of the landslide occurred. I think that helped some too.” He related.

Linda raised an eyebrow. “How did he deal with all that?”

”It wasn’t too bad. The other little boys triggered him into a fight and the little one did a lot of crying, not because he was punished, but because he was experiencing once again some of the events of his past there.” Ben sighed. “It seemed to help a little though. He’s not afraid of going there anymore and I plan to take him back. I want him to make friends there like he has at the Silver Eagle. He’ll need to be able to run that mine someday, or at least be able to manage it.”

Linda looked at Ben a bit curiously. “Why is that?”

The elder Cartwright looked at Linda, he knew he could trust this woman with his child and his child’s future. “Linda, I’m going to share something with you not too many people know and I believe I can trust you to keep it just between us… Sparky owns the Green Backs mine.” 

Linda’s eyes opened wide with surprise. “He owns the Green Backs mine?”

”Yes, he’s a pretty wealthy little boy, but he doesn’t know it and I don’t intend for him to know it until he is grown up enough to understand the responsibility that goes with it.”

The woman understood Ben’s position on this perfectly. 

The two adults continued to watch the children at play. 

When Hoss, Adam and Little Joe came in from their day’s work they were both surprised and pleased to see Sparky’s little friends playing with him in the yard and their Pa and Mrs. Walker watching over them. 

“Linda, you’ll stay for supper, won’t you?” Ben offered.

“Yes, of course, then we need to drive back.” She told him.

“Would you like me or one of my sons to escort you back to the mine?” Ben asked with concern.

“Why that would be very nice.” Linda smiled.

At supper Sparky was excited to have his friends there and as a result didn’t eat much.   
Ben made him sit in his lap and fed him because of all the excitement. The child needed to eat. 

“Papa! I don’t want to sit in your lap to eat! I’m not hungry!” The littlest Cartwright whined.

“I’m sorry little boy, but I need to make sure you eat enough. When I’m satisfied you’ve eaten enough you may be excused.” He scolded sternly.

The little boy pouted. 

Ben sighed. He didn’t want to have to discipline his child in front of everyone. 

Sparky ate more and his father, satisfied his child had eaten as much as he would at this point let him go. 

When it was time for Linda to drive back to the mine Ben had Adam and Hoss hitch up the wagon. He also had them saddle Buck for him so he could ride back with Linda to see her safely home.

Sparky seeing all this activity ran up to his father. “Papa! I want to come with you!”

“No little boy, it’s getting late and you need to get to bed.”

“You’re treating me like a baby!” the child shouted at his father.

“Nicholas, I’d change both that tone and attitude if you don’t want to have a necessary talk with me.”

Sparky stopped short, changing his demeanor. “Papa, may I come with you?” He asked respectfully. 

Ben eyeing his son asked, “Will you have any more tantrums?”

“No Papa.” he promised. His father decided to allow him to come with him and instructed Adam to saddle up   
Blaze.

Once the pony was ready Ben placed the child up on the saddle and with a flick of the reins, Linda got the wagon team going. Ben and Sparky rode on either side, dropping back when the trail was too narrow for them to ride alongside.

They arrived without incident. Sparky had chattered with his friends from the saddle when he was able to ride alongside the wagon. When he wasn’t he talked with his Papa excitedly about what they saw along the trail and the ride was pleasant.

 

Chapter 31

 

When they arrived at the mine, Ben turned to his son and said, “Sparky, we won’t be dismounting. We need to go right back so we can get back to the ranch before it gets too dark to see properly.”

The youngster pouted for a moment. He had hoped he would be able to have some more play time with his friends, but remembering he had promised his Papa no tantrums just acknowledged this instruction with “Yes Papa,” and a nod of his head. 

Ricky Walker came running out to see his Ma and stopped short, seeing Sparky. Barry and the other boys had come out of their cabin as well. Barry helped his wife down from the seat of the wagon. “Everything go all right?” He kissed her lightly.

“Yes, the boys were both very good and they all had a good time.” She smiled up at the little boy still on his pony. 

Ben tipped his hat and greeted Barry and the boys and Sparky followed suit. 

In the meantime, Ricky had gotten closer to Sparky and his pony. He gave the smaller boy a dark look and Linda seeing this smacked the little boy across the seat of his pants.   
“Don’t you even think of it little boy!” She pronounced. 

Ricky quickly changed his demeanor because he didn’t want to be in trouble with his mother. He remembered what happened the last time he did something mean to Sparky and decided it wasn’t worth it. 

Ben smiled at Linda and her chastising her young son. “We won’t be staying long, we need to get back. Thanks for the surprise visit. I think it was just what Sparky needed. His birthday will be coming soon and I’ll be making plans. I’ll let you know so you will be able to come.” He shared.

“That would be fine Ben, we’ll be looking forward to it.” Linda replied with a big smile directed toward the littlest Cartwright.

After a few more words exchanged among the adults Ben turned Buck and said, “Sweet Pea, time for us to go.”

Sparky turned Blaze and followed his Papa back down the trail. 

They rode companionably along, the little boy seemed to be thinking. He turned, “Papa?”

“Yes, Sweet Pea?” Ben glanced over at the small boy.

“I wish the Walkers and the Samuels could live closer so I could see my friends more often. Why can’t they live closer?” The child asked wistfully.

“Well, their lives are at the mine and yours is at the ranch.” Ben replied.

“Can’t Mr. Walker and Mr. Samuels work at the ranch?” Sparky asked. 

Ben answered his son seriously, “They are miners, not ranchers. They know a lot about mining, but not about ranching. It would be like me taking all of you and moving you to the mine and becoming a miner.”

The little boy thought about this for a while. “Papa, when we went to the Green Backs mine you worked in the mine then.”

”Yes, I did, but that was only for a short time baby. I’m not cut out to be a miner. I’m cut out to be a rancher. I wouldn’t be able to work under the ground all the time. I like the open spaces, fresh air, riding on my horse through the pastures, working with the trees and lumber, all that.” Ben explained to his child.

“Papa, I guess people have their places in life like the animals do. Some, like the birds fly high up in the sky and hunt for their food like owls and eagles. Some, like the moles burrow under the ground for their food and some, like the deer, cows and horses eat the grass on the land. The horses allow us to ride them so we can go places, the chickens provide us with eggs and food, the hogs and cows also provide us with food and each animal has its own purpose. God gives each person a purpose too? I mean, like Doc Martin is a doctor, Sheriff Coffee is a Sheriff, Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are store keepers, Lem takes care of the horses at the livery and Sam is a barber. Even Hop Sing is a cook and keeps house and is like a mother to all of us.” The child shared, expressing his thoughts. 

Ben smiled and was amazed at his little one’s depth of thinking at his young age. He was going to be seven-years old and even though he wasn’t growing a lot physically, his mind was growing by leaps and bounds.   
Ben asked, “Sparky, have you thought about what you’d like to do when you grow up?”

The little boy seemed to be seriously considering this question as they rode along.   
“I don’t know yet Papa. I think I’d like to be a rancher like you, but maybe a miner like my daddy was. Maybe I’d like to be a doctor like Doc Martin, or a sheriff like Sheriff Coffee. I’m not sure.” the youngster answered seriously.

“Well my boy, you have a lot of time to make up your mind yet.” Ben smiled.

When they got back to the house the elder Cartwright dismounted and then helped his child out of the saddle. 

“Papa, when will I be big enough to get on and off my pony by myself?” The little mite asked a bit disgusted at having to be taken down from his pony.

“Soon enough son, soon enough.” Ben answered tousling his hair. “You go on up to the house now and get ready for bed. I’ll take care of Buck and Blaze.” He gave the child a light swat on his bottom.

The youngster ran up to the house and into the kitchen door. He walked through the kitchen cautious of Hop Sing and his wooden spoon and then raced into the great room.   
Hoss, Adam and Little Joe were there taking turns reading a new book, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, published 1726. The little boy stopped short hearing the intriguing description of how little Gulliver was and how all the people were so big they could hold him in their hands. He also listened to how frightened Gulliver was too. 

“Adam, I wouldn’t want to be that small either!” Sparky interrupted. 

Adam glanced down at his little brother. Well Sparky, there’s also another part to this story where Gulliver visits another land and he is a giant among the Lilliputians who are people so little Jonathan can put them in his hand.” 

Sparky’s eyes widened and rounded. “Where is this place Adam?”

Little Joe and Hoss both laughed then. 

The littlest Cartwright became angry. 

Adam, seeing is little brother’s distress said, there isn’t any place like that for real Sweet Pea. It’s fiction, made up by someone’s imagination. Like a fairy tale.”

The look of disappointment on the little boy’s face was so sincere that the oldest Cartwright brother put the book down and pulling the child into his lap hugged him. “Don’t worry little brother, you too will be big someday.”

“When Adam? I’m tired of being so little!” Sparky wailed.

“One-day Sparky. Little Joe was small like you for a very long time, then he grew all at   
once. He grew a whole lot in a short time. Now look at how big he is.” He pointed out.

The little mite looked at Little Joe and then burst into tears. 

Ben, walking in wondered what was going on. “What are you three doing to your baby brother?”

“Nothing Pa, we were just reading Gulliver’s Travels and he got upset because he’s so small and wanted to know when he’d get big.” Hoss explained while Adam tried to comfort the youngster.

Ben walked over and took his son out of Adam’s arms and cuddling him to his chest sat in his chair until the child calmed. “Little boy, you will get big when the time is right for you to grow. Hardly anyone stays little for their whole lives. Some people do, but they are very few and I don’t believe you will be one of them.” He squeezed the child tight.”

How do you know Papa?” Sparky asked, lifting tear filled eyes to his father’s face.

“Because I know about these things. Doc Martin also has said you will grow. He knows better than anyone about whether you will grow and when and how much.” Ben explained. 

Sparky seemed satisfied with this explanation and snuggled into his Papa. When he fell asleep Ben hefted the boy into his arms and brought him up to bed.

“You know, I can kind of understand how he feels.” Little Joe said, looking at his older brothers, “I used to feel that way a whole lot when I was his age.”

“Well, I felt the opposite when Hoss was growing up, I was worrying when he’d get bigger than me and I wouldn’t be able to boss him around anymore.” Adam grinned. 

Hoss playfully punched his older brother in the shoulder and all three boys laughed. 

Ben returned to the great room, picked up his paper and relaxed by the fire. Adam again picked up Gulliver’s Travels and the boys resumed their reading. 

Ben felt very content and grateful for all four of his sons, including the littlest Cartwright. 

Sparky woke and laid in his bed trying to think of how he could grow bigger. He decided he would ask Hoss. He was tall like Papa. He was as tall as Adam. Maybe he could tell him how to get taller. The little mite slipped into his large brother’s room and crawling onto his bed watched him while he was sleeping. He noticed that his brother almost didn’t fit in his bed. He sat there staring at his brother. 

When Hoss opened his eyes, he was startled to see those large grey eyes staring at him. 

“Little one! You scared me! What are you doing?” He smiled at the tiny boy.

“I’m watching you grow.” Sparky explained. 

Hoss grinned at his brother now. Well, how much did I grow while you were watching?”

“I’m not sure. You are almost too tall for your bed!” The little boy told him in consternation.

Hoss grinned. “Yep, I will probably have to ask Pa to help me build a new bed soon so I fit.” 

The little mite looked horrified. “You’ll be so tall you’ll have to build a bigger bed?”

“Probably little brother.” The older boy sighed. “It’s the price of being too tall.” 

Sparky sat on Hoss’s bed and thought about this. He had never thought about being too tall. He had never considered that there could ever be such a thing. Now he realized being too small was a problem, but being too big could be a problem too. He had to make sure he grew just right. 

Hoss sat up then and gathering the tiny child into his large arms cuddled him and brought him back to his room. “Little one, Pa will be looking for you soon to help you get dressed and washed up. You have eggs to gather yet.”

”Yes Hoss.” The little child hugged his big older brother. 

The large boy set him in the middle of his bed. Sparky noticed there was still a lot of room in his bed and was glad he wouldn’t have to ask Papa to help him build a bigger bed. 

Ben came in and helped the little one get washed and dressed. “Papa, Hoss has almost grown out of his bed.” Sparky informed his Papa.

”Yes, little one, I know. We’ll have to build him a new one soon. I think Hoss will be even taller than me when he finally stops growing.”

“Will he be as big as Mr. Walker Papa?” Sparky asked.”

Possibly, maybe even bigger. I’m not sure. He still has a few more years to grow.” Ben informed the child.

“How old are you when you stop growing Papa?” The little boy asked. 

”Oh, about twenty-five or so I think Doc Martin told me.” Ben shared.

“That old?” Sparky said incredulous.

”I suppose so. Doc Martin knows about these things.” Ben replied with a grin. 

“So, I have eighteen or nineteen more years left to grow?” Sparky asked quickly doing the arithmetic. 

“I would say so little boy.” Ben grinned.”

That’s a long time yet Papa. I have a lot of time to grow big like my brothers.” Sparky said in relief. 

“Yes, you do Sweet Pea, now let’s get you going on your chores so you can eat your breakfast and continue to grow.” He told his baby son grinning. 

“Okay Papa.” Sparky said happily.

The little boy performed his chores as he was supposed to and Ben was proud of the littlest Cartwright. 

When Sparky brought in the eggs to Hop Sing and then filled the kindling box he said, “Hop Sing, Papa says I have at least eighteen more years to grow big. That’s a long time isn’t it?” 

The Little Chinese man gave the tyke a gentle look. “Long time and little boy will grow into tall strong man.”

“You really think so Hop Sing?” Sparky asked hopefully.

“Boy’s father tall man, boy take after father, boy will be tall enough.” Hop Sing pronounced.

“How come you’re not tall Hop Sing?” Sparky asked innocently.

People of China not very big people, I am just right for my people. Chinese man not grow very tall. Hop Sing father same as Hop Sing. Hop Sing Grandfather Same as Hop Sing. Hop Sing just right for family.” The little Chinaman explained. 

“That’s good Hop Sing. That’s what I want too. To be just right.” Sparky grinned the rare smile that lit up those large grey eyes.

Ben overhearing the conversation between Hops Sing and the littlest Cartwright grinned to himself and again felt grateful for the bundle of joy his son was to him. Always curious, always testing his limits, always thinking and he wouldn’t want the child any other way. 

After breakfast Ben on impulse picked his young son up from his chair, swung him high over his head and tickled him laughing. Sparky grinned with surprise and protested.   
“Papa! Put me down!”

“Not until you’re too big for me to do this and that won’t be for a pretty long time I’m thinking little boy!” He grinned.

When he did put his child down the little boy’s eyes were sparkling and he gave his Papa   
a big hug. Then Hoss, Adam and Little Joe each did the same thing in turn. Sparky giggled happily and then when he finally found himself on his feet declared, “Being small isn’t all that bad sometimes after all!” 

Everyone laughed at the little boy’s pronouncement. 

Each one, even Hop Sing was grateful for the little bundle of mischief, energy and curiosity that was Nicholas Brett Gibson Cartwright. The richness the child brought to their lives was immeasurable even if he was both a challenge and a handful at times. They all knew he wouldn’t be anything they couldn’t handle together if they all did their part in helping the littlest Cartwright grow, not only tall, but in all the ways that mattered.

The End.


End file.
